Turkey continues to maintain contacts with both Ukraine and Russia, and the primary task of its diplomacy is to achieve a settlement of the situation, the Anadolu agency quoted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying.
“We maintain diplomatic contacts with both sides, discuss all proposals and support all initiatives aimed at establishing peace,” he said at a press conference following the NATO summit in Brussels.
Erdogan noted that Turkey maintains special relations with both countries.
“For this reason, the first task of Turkish diplomacy is to stop hostilities. Peace in Ukraine must be ensured according to a formula that will suit the two countries and the world community. It must be a stable and strong peace,” the Turkish President added.
President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at the invitation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, has arrived in Kyiv to attend the tenth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council.
“We are in Kyiv at the invitation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to attend the tenth meeting of the High Level Strategic Council. I hope that the meetings will lead to favorable results for both the countries and the region,” Erdoğan said on Twitter on Thursday.
He said that in recent years, Turkey has made significant progress in relations with Ukraine in trade, investment, tourism and defense industry.
“We are striving to achieve our goal of $10 billion in trade volume. We will soon achieve this goal due to the Free Trade Agreement that we will sign,” the Turkish president said.
According to him, Turkey is closely following “the challenges faced by Ukraine, and tensions in the region.” Thus, he called on all sides to dialogue to maintain peace in the region.
“It is clear that the conflict must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law. Turkey is ready to contribute to maintaining peace and security in its region,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit Ukraine at the beginning of 2022 to hold a High-Level Strategic Council, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“In the Strategy [ of foreign policy], we also determined that the priority in the development of strategic partnership with Turkey will continue to be the support of political dialogue at the level of heads of state, as well as the development of Quadriga. At the beginning of the year, Turkish President Erdoğan will visit Ukraine for holding the High-Level Strategic Council, and this will be the next step in the development of our relations,” Kuleba said at the event “Diplomacy 2022: Priorities of the Foreign Policy Strategy” in Kyiv on Tuesday.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will pay a working visit to the Republic of Turkey (Istanbul) on Friday, October 16.
During the visit, Zelensky will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“It is planned to discuss a wide range of issues of relations between Ukraine and Turkey, as well as the signing of a number of bilateral documents,” the press service said.
