Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered Istanbul on Tuesday as a venue for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to reach a “just and lasting” ceasefire. With reference to the statement of the Turkish presidential office published on the X platform, Le Monde reported about it, writes TASR.
In Erdogan’s view, it would a “ceasefire focused on energy and port infrastructure” could have created favorable conditions to negotiate a comprehensive peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
The statement came after Erdogan took part in a video conference of 35 countries from the coalition willing to support Ukraine on Tuesday, where he declared that Turkey will continue its diplomatic efforts to mediate direct contact between the warring parties.
Erdogan received in Ankara last week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and he spoke by phone on Monday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Turkey, although it is a member of NATOdid not join the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia. On the contrary, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Turkey manages to maintain contacts with Moscow, but also with Kiev, to which it supplies, for example, combat drones.
