* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - File
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, announced earlier today (March 7) that a tripartite meeting with Ukraine and Russia will take place at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum this Thursday.
"We will hold this meeting in a tripartite format in Antalya on Thursday, March 10," said Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on his Twitter account.
Expressing hope that the meeting "will be a turning point" and "important step" towards peace and stability, the Foreign Minister said that Ankara will "continue to make efforts for a lasting peace."
Çavuşoğlu underlined that Turkey has been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to bring the Ukrainian and Russian parties together since the beginning of war between the two neighbors on February 24.
He said that since the war began, Turkey's President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "held a total of 19 phone calls with his counterparts. And I held about 40 calls."
"During this period, I spoke with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba six times and with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov four times, not including our communication via message," he added further, as reported by the state-run AA.
Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu announced the attendance of both Kuleba and Lavrov to the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Thursday, as he said both parties asked him to be present during the meeting.
On Twitter, Turkey's Foreign Minister said that "upon President Erdoğan's initiatives and our intensive diplomatic efforts, Foreign Ministers Lavrov of Russia and Kuleba of Ukraine have decided to meet with my participation on the margins of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum."
"Hope this step will lead to peace and stability," he added.
Upon President @RTErdogan's initiatives & our intensive diplomatic efforts, Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov of #Russia & Dmytro Kuleba of #Ukraine have decided to meet with my participation on the margins of @AntalyaDF.
— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) March 7, 2022
Hope this step will lead to peace and stability.
The Antalya Diplomacy Forum will be held on March 11-13, 2022 in Turkey's southern resort city of Antalya.
The minister commented further on Turkey's evacuation efforts from Ukraine, saying that at least 12,000 citizens have been evacuated from Ukraine, so far. Turkey is "one of the few countries which are keeping their missions open" in Ukraine, the Minister said, adding the country's embassy in Kyiv and consulate in Odessa were both still functional.
What happened?
Earlier on February 24, explosions were reported in several Ukrainian provinces, including the capital Kyiv, after Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced a 'special military operation' in the Donbas region.
Tensions had started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine. They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, which was consistently rejected by Moscow.
Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states in late February, followed by the start of a military operation in Ukraine on February 24.
President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people "subjected to genocide" by Kyiv and to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine, while calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.
CLICK - bianet news on Russia's invasion of Ukraine
In the face of this invasion, protest demonstrations are held both on the streets and in front of the embassies of Russia in several countries such as the US, Mexico, Chile, Italy, Britain, Georgia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, the Netherlands and Greece.
As reported by Novaya, 1,816 people were taken into custody during the anti-war protests in several cities in Russia a day after the invasion.
Russia's war on Ukraine has also been met with outrage from the international community, with the European Union (EU), UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions against Russia.
Russia has been further isolated as its planes have been barred from flying in European and Canadian airspace, and a number of its banks have been kicked out of the SWIFT international banking system.
At least 364 civilians have been killed and 759 others injured in Ukraine since Russia launched a war against the Eastern European country on February 24, according to UN figures, with the real toll feared to be higher.
More than 1.7 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency. (SD)
