2023-07-07 22:12:17
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed his support for Ukraine’s NATO membership. “There is no doubt that Ukraine deserves NATO membership,” Erdogan said on Friday following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul. But Erdogan also said that in the war between Russia and Ukraine, “both sides” should “return to peace talks.”
Erdogan also announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit Turkey in August for the first time since his country’s war of aggression once morest Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. According to Erdogan, the talks with Putin are also regarding extending the agreement on exports of Ukrainian grain, which expires on July 17.
He also spoke to Selenskyj regarding the grain agreement, Erdogan said. He hopes to discuss this with Putin in the coming month, said the Turkish President, adding: “We hope that the agreement will be extended.”
The grain agreement, which was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in summer 2022, is scheduled to expire on July 17. The agreement ended a months-long Russian naval blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports. As a result, Ukraine, as one of the most important grain exporters worldwide, can once more export grain – albeit to a limited extent.
The UN urged all parties in a written statement on Friday to extend the agreement to ensure global food security. The agreement had been extended several times, most recently by two months in mid-May. However, Russia complains that promises to ease Russian agricultural exports have not been kept in this context. NATO country Turkey maintains good relations with both Russia and Ukraine.
The Kremlin had previously stated that it was closely monitoring the meeting. Moscow had recently tried to break through its growing international isolation by building close ties with Erdogan. “We will follow the results of these talks very closely,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “It will be interesting for us to find out what was discussed. It is important,” he added.
Zelenskyy’s visit to Turkey was his first since the Russian invasion of his country. The Ukrainian President had previously held talks in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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