Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in Astana on the sidelines of a regional summit in the Kazakh capital, a Turkish official told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.
Turkey, which has maintained a neutral position since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, had already offered to mediate the opening of negotiations between kyiv and Moscow.
Erdogan, who has yet to comment on Russian attacks on several Ukrainian cities on Monday that left at least 19 dead and around 100 wounded, said the West appreciated Ankara’s “balanced” approach to the conflict.
The Turkish and Russian presidents had already met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan last month.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held telephone contacts with Russian officials on Monday following the latest Russian attacks, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
Today, Cavusoglu, in an interview with Turkish television, said that “a ceasefire must be established as soon as possible. The sooner the better.”
“Unfortunately, [os dois países] quickly moved away from diplomacy” since talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in March in Istanbul, Cavusoglu said.
“As the war between Ukraine and Russia progresses, unfortunately, the situation is getting worse and more complicated,” he added.
The Turkish minister also called for “a just peace” based on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“There must be a just peace for Ukraine. Where is the war going? It is taking place on Ukrainian soil (…). A process must begin that guarantees the territorial integrity and borders of Ukraine,” the minister emphasized.
“Without a ceasefire, it is not possible to talk about these issues in a healthy way: a viable ceasefire and a just peace,” Cavusoglu said.
Erdogan hopes to promote peace talks between Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, which the Turkish authorities consider essential.
Although it is a member of NATO, Turkey has not adhered to Western sanctions against Russia. Erdogan, who is facing a difficult economic situation ahead of the elections scheduled for June, wants to maintain and develop trade with Moscow.
However, under pressure from the United States, Ankara announced last month that the last three Turkish banks still accepting Russian bank cards had decided to end the partnerships.
The decision followed weeks of increasingly urgent warnings from Washington, urging Turkey to limit its economic ties with Russia or risk sanctions.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.6 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which places this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia. political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,221 civilian deaths and 9,371 wounded, highlighting that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
