Turkish President Erdogan and Ukrainian President Zelensky discussed the renewal of the Istanbul process and emphasized the importance of Turkey’s mediating role.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ankara on Wednesday. After the meeting, he called for the resumption of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, but in a “more complex framework”. TASR informs about it according to the Reuters and AFP agencies.
“In today’s meetings, we also emphasized the need for the Istanbul process to continue with a pragmatic and results-oriented approach,” Erdogan said at a press conference with Zelensky. “We also expect all our partners who wish to end the bloodshed in the region to take a constructive approach to the Istanbul process,” he said.
According to him, the renewal of negotiations is also important for the increasingly intense attacks, especially on the energy infrastructure. “We are of the opinion that it would be beneficial to revive the Istanbul process in a more comprehensive framework that could solve current problems,” Erdogan said.
He praised Turkish diplomacy
The Ukrainian president praised Turkey’s mediating role. “We believe in the power of Turkish diplomacy and its ability to be understood in Moscow. We hope to resume the exchange of prisoners by the end of the year. Turkey provides great support in this regard,” Zelenskyy noted.
Turkey hosted three rounds of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year. These talks on ending the war in Ukraine did not bring any breakthrough, and the parties only agreed on the exchange of prisoners of war. Zelenskyi held talks with Erdogan at a time when the Secretary of the US Department of Defense for Ground Forces, Dan Driscoll, and the Chief of the General Staff of the US Ground Forces, Randy George, arrived in Ukraine and are expected to meet with the Ukrainian president on Thursday.
The Axios portal previously reported that the US is preparing a new plan to end the war in Ukraine along the lines of the Gaza peace plan. Its main mastermind should be the special envoy of the US President, Steve Witkoff. He allegedly discussed it in detail with the special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriyev. Ukraine did not participate in its conception.
