We aim to bring together the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and the United States to achieve peace in the ongoing war, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday, indicating he would talk this week with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
“I might speak to Putin and Trump this week to see if we can hold a leaders’ meeting on the war in Istanbul,” the president told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul.
“The last meeting was at Çırağan. My foreign minister conducted the meeting on my behalf. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian delegation met with us in Ankara before moving on to Çırağan. I received them and had meetings with them. Of course, I also talked with Mr. Vladimir Putin during these meetings, and we sought his support,” he elaborated.
Erdoğan’s words came after Türkiye brought together Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on Wednesday.
The rival sides met earlier in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 amid U.S. pressure to agree on a cease-fire to end the three-year-old conflict. Despite the urging of U.S. President Donald Trump, no major breakthrough was made.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Friday that a summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could only happen as a final step to seal a peace deal.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that it was unlikely that such a meeting could occur by the end of August, as Ukraine has proposed.
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have so far only agreed to hold prisoner exchanges. And Russia has since launched intense air attacks on Ukraine and seized more front line territory.
Russia has demanded that Ukraine give up four regions, on top of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. The Kremlin also insists that Ukraine should abandon any plans to join the NATO military alliance.
Ukraine has rejected the demands and expressed doubt that Russia wants a cease-fire.
Ankara is keen on boosting its international profile as a key mediator and utilizes Istanbul’s symbolic location to promote diplomacy between the parties involved in conflicts and disagreements on a global level.
NATO member Türkiye is one of the most active countries working to ensure a permanent cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia. Its delicately balanced act of assuming a role as a mediator by keeping communication channels with both warring sides open provides a glimmer of hope in diplomatic efforts to find a solution and achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis. With its unique position of maintaining friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Türkiye has garnered widespread praise for its efforts to end the war.
While Ankara has opposed international sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow, it has also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from crossing through them.
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