Turkiye offers to host Ukraine peace summit

ISTANBUL — Turkiye will facilitate a peace summit that includes Russia to solve the Ukraine conflict, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

Erdogan made the remarks during a joint news conference with the visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following their discussions at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Friday.

“Turkiye will continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine while working for a negotiated, peaceful end to the war,” Erdogan said.

Zelensky, accompanied by his defense minister, visited a shipyard where Ukrainian navy ships were under construction. He inspected “the readiness and equipment of the Ivan Mazepa corvette and assessed the progress of construction of a second Ada-class corvette”.

“I thank Turkiye’s President and all Turkish and Ukrainian defense companies for their partnership and for working together to bring peace closer and make it a lasting one,” Zelensky wrote on the social media platform X.

Later in the day, at the news conference, Zelensky said his visit was devoted to bilateral cooperation, and that the two countries are working toward joint arms production.

Erdogan also addressed the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was halted in July last year, affirming Turkiye’s readiness to support a renewed agreement.

The initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkiye in July 2022, created a humanitarian maritime corridor allowing food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Erdogan said they also discussed issues such as the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, the security of ports along the maritime route, and prisoner exchanges.

Zelensky underlined his country’s efforts to bolster security and achieve a fair peace for both Ukraine and the broader Black Sea region.

Before the media briefing, the two leaders held a meeting that lasted about 90 minutes.

During the visit, the two sides signed an agreement to establish an electronic preliminary information exchange system relating to goods and vehicles transported between the two countries.

Salih Yilmaz, an academic at Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University,

said depending on its existing budget, Ukraine would like to establish a partnership with Turkish arms industry companies to produce artillery shells.

“Turkiye seems to be the safest country that can quickly produce the artillery shells that Ukraine needs most,” Yilmaz told the staterun Anadolu news agency.

Baris Doster, an academic at Istanbul-based Marmara University, told Xinhua that Turkiye also maintains very strong political and trade relations with Russia.

Fostering ties

“Fostering good relations with both Ukraine and Russia would bolster Ankara’s position to act as a mediator in a potential peace summit,” Doster said.

The visit marked Zelensky’s second trip to Turkiye since the onset of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin was also scheduled to visit Turkiye in February. However, media reports said the visit will now take place in late April or early May.

Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, on Friday called on the parties to the Ukraine crisis to enhance direct engagement and dialogue to find a solution.

As the crisis drags on, attacks and civilian casualties continue to occur, and the humanitarian situation keeps worsening. China is deeply concerned and saddened by this, Geng said.

Conflict and confrontation produce no winner, and all conflicts have to end at the negotiating table. The earlier the talks start, the sooner peace will arrive, he told the Security Council.

China is ready to continue communication and engagement with all parties to work tirelessly to consolidate consensus for ending the conflict, to pave the way for dialogue and peace talks, and to promote a political solution, he said.

Britain’s Foreign Minister David Cameron said he opposes sending Western troops to Ukraine, even for training missions, in an interview with the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published on Saturday.

Cameron said training missions are best carried out abroad, noting that Britain has trained 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers that way.