Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey is ready to host a peace summit with Russia.
“From the very beginning, we have been contributing to ending the war through negotiations. We are ready to host a peace summit that will include Russia,” he said on Friday in Istanbul after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Erdogan emphasized that “we support the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of our strategic partner, Ukraine.”
“Unfortunately, the war is having an increasingly negative impact regionally and globally, and primarily on Ukraine. No diplomatic steps have been taken to use the negotiating table we built in Istanbul in March 2022 to establish peace,” he said.
The Turkish President also expressed his readiness to support new agreements on grain exports.
According to him, “the entry into force of the free trade agreement as soon as possible will undoubtedly give impetus to the development of our relations.”
Erdogan noted that “the existence of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine is one of the most important factors in strengthening friendship between the two countries. The Crimean Tatars, who are an integral part of Ukraine, are selflessly fighting for the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
“In the future, on the one hand, we will stand in solidarity with Ukraine, and on the other hand, we will continue our work to end the war with a just peace based on negotiations,” he said.
