Italy's media highlighted the importance of the country's multi-faceted relations with Turkey, where Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi paid a visit Tuesday.
Major Italian newspapers covered Draghi's visit to Ankara including Corriere della Sera, one of the country's most-read and circulated dailies, that said the premier particularly focused on cooperation on irregular immigration.
Draghi stressed that Turkey and Italy are allies, friends and partners who stand together against common challenges, it said.
The newspaper noted that the two countries signed nine agreements, including cooperation in intelligence sharing.
Turkey insists on concluding the deal on the SAMP/T long-range air defense system as soon as possible, it added.
Center-left La Repubblica emphasized that the two countries encourage a solution on the export of Ukrainian grain to world markets via the Black Sea.
Italy and Turkey also agreed on jointly addressing the problem of irregular immigration and essentially restoring full stability in Libya, it said.
For Italy, it said, Turkey is a tough but necessary partner with its role as an energy transit country, among other critical issues with which Italy has to deal.
The center-right Il Messaggero daily reiterated that the two countries share similar perspectives on Libya and the export of Ukrainian grain.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan disclosed that Italy will take part in Turkey's ongoing undertaking of connecting its recently discovered natural gas reserves in the Black Sea to the national grid, it said.
Turkey and Italy have signed nine bilateral cooperation agreements in several areas including defense, trade, diplomacy and development, Erdoğan said Tuesday after he and Draghi held the third intergovernmental summit between the two countries in the capital Ankara.
The two leaders also discussed Turkey-EU relations, said Erdoğan.
"I would like to state that I thanked Draghi for Italy’s support for further improvement of our relationship with the union. "The developments in our region have concretely demonstrated once again that Turkey is important in many fields for the EU," he added.
The Italian prime minister, for his part, said: "We’re facing great challenges, starting from the war in Ukraine, and we want to work together to address them."
Turkey and Italy are united in condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine and voicing support for Kyiv, he said.
"At the same time, we are on the front line to seek a negotiated solution that could halt hostilities and guarantee a stable and long-lasting peace," he added.
Draghi thanked Turkey for its mediation role in unblocking grain exports from Ukraine.
The intergovernmental summit between Italy and Turkey had been held twice before, in 2008 and 2012. Italy’s ministers of foreign affairs, interior, defense, economic development and ecological transformation also attended the summit held for the third time in Ankara.
Turkey’s relations with Italy date back to the times of the Ottoman Empire, which had close relationships with Italian city-states like Genoa and Venice. In fact, relations between the Ottoman Empire and Venice go back to 1381. Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Italy were established in 1856.
Today, Turkey and Italy are two regional powers that share common interests, common history and common values in the Mediterranean basin. In this respect, it would be appropriate to define Turkish-Italian bilateral relations as a strategic partnership. Turkey and Italy work together to find solutions to regional and global issues as well. From Afghanistan to Lebanon, the two countries cooperate with a view to bringing peace and stability to vast geography.