Click to read the article in Turkish
Turkey hopes that its Black Sea neighbors Russia and Ukraine will return to the negotiating table, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.
Speaking to journalists on the presidential plane returning from his Africa trip, cutting short his official visits due to the Ukraine crisis, the president said he will continue telephone diplomacy with his counterparts from Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
"I also expressed the importance our country attaches to Ukraine's territorial integrity to Mr. Zelensky, whom I spoke to on the phone. I also underlined that we do not and will not accept any initiative that clearly violates the Minsk Agreements.
"I said that we are ready to do our part to resolve the crisis through diplomacy and dialogue before it escalates further.
"We will consult the current situation that threatens the security and stability of the Black Sea with our NATO allies in the coming days ... Our hope is that our neighbors from the Black Sea, Russia and Ukraine, return to the negotiating table as soon as possible."
"Everybody is talking"
Responding to a question about his expectations from the upcoming NATO summit, Erdoğan said the meetings between the leaders so far have not been productive, referring to Putin's meetings in Russia with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, as well as the phone conversations with his US counterpart Joe Biden.
"When we address the issue on a state or institutional basis, there is only NATO left now. With this video conference summit, NATO must now determine its stance and do whatever it will do," Erdoğan remarked.
"You know, we haven't faced a situation like dispatching a serious number of soldiers to Ukraine. Everybody is talking, but nobody is doing anything. There is such a situation.
"Russia has amassed a serious number of soldiers on the border. Of course, one does not need to be a prophet to predict what the result would be in the face of this."
Relations with Russia and Ukraine
Putin on Monday (February 21) announced that Moscow was recognizing two eastern breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent states, followed quickly by an order sending "peacekeeping forces" to the country's Donbass region.
The announcements drew widespread global condemnation, with Western countries announcing new sanctions on Russia.
Erdoğan called the recognition unacceptable, stressing Turkey's efforts to help reach a resolution.
"We should act very delicately, we should take steps very cautiously," said Erdoğan.
When asked which side Turkey would choose, he responded, "It is not possible for us to give up on either of them," adding that Ankara has political, military and economic relations with both countries. (AS/VK)
