Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said Türkiye will be an ideal host for possible upcoming meetings between Russia, Ukraine and the US to end the three-year-long war between Moscow and Kyiv, Anadolu Agency reported.
The Turkish president, addressing a joint press conference with visiting Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ankara, said Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty are Türkiye's sine qua non.
Erdogan said during his meeting with Zelenskyy he underlined that Ankara would provide all kinds of support to have negotiations that end in lasting peace.
The war, which has caused many "innocent deaths" and enormous destruction, "must end now," Erdogan added.
“In order for a just peace to be possible, the countries that we know to be powerful must show their attitude in favor of peace.
"We hosted direct negotiations between the two countries (Russia and Ukraine) in Istanbul in March 2022. As a result of our contacts with the parties, we launched the Black Sea Grain Initiative. In the last three years, we have made direct initiatives with Russia and Ukraine at all levels. In all these efforts, we have sincerely endeavored to be a reliable mediator for both sides, and we have achieved concrete results," he added.
Erdogan argued that peace has no losers and the entire world was now waiting for an end to the war. "This was the reason why we wanted the establishment of the grain corridor and we had a good result in the grain corridor, but unfortunately we could not ensure its continuation. As much as 30,000 tons of grain was sent across," he added.
Moscow did not extend the deal after July 2023, citing restrictions on Russian grain exports.
"We want this to continue in the next process. In the meantime, I would like to express my gratitude to Zelenskyy for sending grain to Syria, the grain they sent to us, and we delivered and are delivering this grain to Syria by turning it into flour in our mills," he said.
"This, of course, made the administration in Syria very happy and satisfied. I would like to thank them on behalf of the Syrian people, because it is a humanitarian and conscientious duty for Syria to have received such an opportunity through us, especially from Ukraine, at such a difficult time.”
The Turkish president said that the diplomatic initiative launched by US President Donald Trump to end the war quickly and through negotiations is in line with the policy Türkiye has been pursuing for the last three years.
Earlier in the day, Russian and US delegations met in the Saudi capital Riyadh for the first high-level talks since the Ukraine war started in February 2022. They agreed for more talks on ending the war and to improve bilateral ties.
Türkiye will continue to work for the implementation of an arrangement aimed at the safety of commercial navigation in the Black Sea, Erdogan said, adding: "We believe that such an arrangement in the Black Sea will serve as an important confidence-building measure in the process leading to negotiations."
On bilateral relations, he said: "The topics within the scope of our strategic partnership relations with Ukraine occupied an important place in our agenda with Zelenskyy. We discussed the steps we can take in the coming period to further strengthen our trade relations."
Erdogan said that despite the difficulties due to the war, "we want to take firm steps towards the target of $10 billion in our bilateral trade."
He said he told Zelenskyy about the willingness of Turkish companies to support Ukraine in its post-war reconstruction. “I sincerely believe that with the establishment of peace in Ukraine, our relations will reach even higher levels in the coming period at a level worthy of our strategic partnership," Erdogan added.
"I would like to express my appreciation for the courageous steps taken by my dear friend Zelenskyy regarding the rights of our Crimean Tatar compatriots, who are especially struggling for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and I hope that additional steps will come," he said.
