Turkey has always played a crucial role in NATO and this must be factored into "any evaluation we make of our ties with Ankara," Italy's foreign minister Angelino Alfano said on Tuesday.
"Turkey - NATO's second largest military force - has certainly always played a very important role in the alliance and this must be taken into account in any evaluation we make of our ties with Ankara," Alfano said.
He was answering a question about the repeated tensions between Turkey and NATO while speaking to reporters after a meeting between, Tillerson, the European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the EU's 28 foreign ministers.
"It's a critical moment, because we Europeans are at a significant juncture, just a few weeks from the advancement of a common European defence," Alfano said.
He was referring to a plan agreed to on 13 December by 23 EU states for permanent structured military co-operation.
That Italy has signed up for closer EU defence cooperation does not mean that it intends "to move away from NATO", Alfano underlined.
"We are the fifth largest contributor (to NATO) and are convinced that going forward we must make ever greater efforts to integrate Europe's systems and efficiencies with NATO's," he said.
