Türkiye is ready to again host peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the Turkish president has said.
In a video message sent to the Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit on Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he maintains his view that diplomacy and dialogue should be given a chance for a “fair and lasting resolution” of the Ukraine war.
“Türkiye’s support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, security and territorial integrity is well known to all. We are also making every effort to protect the rights and interests of our Crimean Tatar compatriots,” he added.
Erdogan said sufficient progress has not been made towards establishing peace, and bringing both parties together is crucial for the success of peace initiatives.
“I’m of the opinion that joint efforts should be initiated, at least on determining general parameters of peace,” he said.
Black Sea Grain initiative
The president said Türkiye “in principle” supports Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's 10-step peace formula, and is ready to contribute to "swift recovery and reconstruction" of the war-torn country.
Erdogan reiterated that Türkiye has taken on a leadership role in the efforts related to the food security aspect.
“The Black Sea Grain Initiative, established and which played a critical role through our efforts, also maintains its place on our agenda,” he added.
Erdogan also underlined the need for Black Sea maritime safety regulations, and that Ankara is in talks for a new UN-backed regulation on security commitments.
Türkiye, internationally praised for its unique mediator role between Ukraine and Russia, has time and again called on Kiev and Moscow to end the fighting through negotiations.
Turkish peace efforts were fruitful with some significant results, such as the landmark grain deal in July 2022, and exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow did not extend the deal after July 2023 citing restrictions on Russian grain exports.
Türkiye first hosted a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in the Mediterranean city of Antalya in March 2022.
Russia's war on Ukraine
Two years on, the casualty count from Russia's war on Ukraine numbers in the tens of thousands, while many more lives have been uprooted and entire cities left in shambles.
The material damage caused by the war, which Moscow launched on February 24, 2022 as a "special military operation," is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
According to a recent report from the International Rescue Committee (IRC), some 14.6 million Ukrainians are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance as of this year, including the 3.7 million internally displaced.
The report showed that over 4,000 attacks on education facilities and over 1,300 attacks on healthcare have been recorded since February 2022, while over 1.5 million homes have been destroyed.
The UN also forecasted in December that the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is now at around $486 billion, up from the previous estimation in 2022 at $411 billion.
