Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart in Istanbul, that Ukraine “deserves to join NATO.”
Kiev wants to join the Atlantic Alliance, but the United States warned today that Ukraine “will not join NATO” after the organization’s summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The Turkish head of state, who announced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey in August, said Russia and Ukraine “should return to peace talks.”
“On the 500th day of the Ukrainian people’s war in defense of the territorial integrity and independence of their country, we are working for peace,” Erdogan stressed at a press conference, together with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who was visiting Turkey. .
Russia and Ukraine have been at war for more than a year after Russian military forces invaded Ukrainian territory.
The Turkish president wanted the agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals, concluded in July 2002 with the mediation of the United Nations and Turkey, to be extended.
“Hopefully the deal will be extended,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Russia sees no reason to extend the agreement beyond July 17, when it expires.
However, Erdogan promised to talk to Putin about extending the duration of the agreement.
Source: TSF
