Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Ankara welcomes US President Donald Trump's intention to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian war through negotiations "in principle", expressing Ankara's readiness to support the path to achieving lasting peace, including by hosting the talks, the Anadolu Agency reported, quoted by BTA.
"The approach of ending the war at the negotiating table is in line with the policy that Turkey has been following for the past four years," Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.
Turkey wants the war that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and made both Russia and Ukraine pay a heavy price to end, the Turkish president added.
Earlier today, Erdogan spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who arrived in Ankara for a visit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also visited Turkey last week.
Turkey is ready to contribute to peace between Russia and Ukraine, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said today, as Anadolu Agency (AA) reported to BTA under an information exchange agreement between the two agencies.
At a joint press conference with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Ankara, Fidan said that the issue of security guarantees is being closely monitored by Turkey.
He stressed that Turkey, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been working from the very beginning to end the three-year war.
„Security guarantees and other issues raised in the recent talks between the US and Russia are issues that we are following closely. "In principle, Turkey is ready to take any step that will contribute to peace," Fidan said.
Regarding the US initiative aimed at ending the war through negotiations, the Turkish foreign minister said: "This situation is in line with the policy we have been following since the beginning of the war. We attach great importance to the new US initiative as a results-oriented approach." We believe that a solution can be reached through negotiations involving both sides. In this context, we are ready to provide all support for the establishment of peace through negotiations, Fidan said, adding that Turkey is ready to host such talks. He added that Ankara would continue its efforts to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea, adding: If implemented, this step would be an important confidence-building measure. Fidan said that increasing consultations and coordination between Ankara and Moscow would be beneficial at a time when global and regional dynamics are changing rapidly. He added that the two countries aim to deepen cooperation on bilateral and international issues in line with the goals outlined by Turkish President Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Syria
Fidan said he and Lavrov also discussed developments in Syria, where a new administration has been in power since the fall of the Assad regime in December.
“We are fully convinced that the territorial integrity and unity of Syria must be preserved,“ he said, adding that both Turkey and Russia share a similar vision of ending separatist movements in the war-torn country.
There can be no tolerance for terrorist organizations taking root in Syria, the Turkish foreign minister added.
Gaza
Fidan stressed that the ceasefire in Gaza must become permanent and that all phases must be fully implemented. “We are deeply concerned about the possibility of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu renewing the war. "A new genocide must never be allowed," he said.
He warned that Israel must stop its actions targeting the West Bank, describing efforts to forcibly displace Palestinians from their lands as "unacceptable" and noting that such initiatives are doomed to failure.
Emphasizing that countries in the region have taken a common position on the issue, Fidan welcomed Russia's support against the displacement of Palestinians.
"It is essential for the international community to take a decisive stance to end the ongoing Israeli aggression in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria," Fidan said, noting that lasting peace and security in the Middle East can only be achieved through such measures.
Turkey's BRICS Policy
Emphasizing that Turkey is a “sovereign state” that attaches great importance to international economic cooperation, Fidan said: “In today's world, it seems unlikely that countries without a strong foundation for economic cooperation will be able to withstand crises and achieve their development goals. For this reason, Turkey attaches great importance to economic cooperation, primarily with the EU.“
Regarding Turkey's EU membership process, the foreign minister said: “Although this has not been explicitly stated in recent years, EU membership negotiations have stalled due to the inconvenience arising from its (the EU's – ed. note) identity policy in including a large Muslim country.“
Despite these challenges, Ankara continues to maintain balanced trade relations with European countries, Fidan said, adding: “However, we also pay great attention to other global economic cooperation platforms“.
He said that Turkey has clearly shown interest in joining the BRICS bloc of emerging economies, but “as far as we understand, the organization has currently frozen the admission of new members“ in order to consolidate its institutionalization.
“They introduced a new category — partnership. In other words, we were not offered membership,“ Fidan said.
He assessed BRICS as “quite comprehensive” compared to the EU.
Netanyahu's government and its allies are using the events for Israel's expansionism
In response to a question about Netanyahu's comments about maintaining a presence in Syria's Mount Hermon and the occupied Golan Heights, Fidan said that Turkey envisions a region in which "both Palestinians and Israelis have their own states, the entire region lives in peace and no one wants someone else's sovereignty, land, life or property."
He recalled that since the beginning of the Gaza crisis, he said the two-state solution has become a more important alternative than ever and countries in the region are ready to support it.
But what we are seeing now is that Netanyahu's government and its allies are using the events to accelerate Israel's expansionism, the Turkish foreign minister added.
He stressed that Israel is pursuing a strategy of creating of instability and weakness in neighboring countries - Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.