Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a phone call on Tuesday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, discussing relations between the two countries and regional and international developments.
A statement from the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate stated that President Erdoğan stressed that his country is ready to make all possible contributions, including hosting negotiations, to ensure a just and lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Erdoğan stressed the need to “not miss the opportunity,” emphasizing the importance of intensifying efforts to achieve peace.
This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to make an official visit to the Turkish capital, Ankara, next Thursday.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed resuming direct talks with Ukraine without preconditions next Thursday in Istanbul, after they were suspended in 2022.
The Kremlin said in a statement on Sunday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan offered his full support for his Russian counterpart Putin’s initiative to hold direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul.
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Meanwhile, the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Department stated in a statement on Sunday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed to his Russian counterpart Turkey’s willingness to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
It is worth noting that in March 2022, Istanbul hosted several rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations to reach an agreement on ending the war.
The two countries signed an agreement in Istanbul in July 2022, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea to help address the global food crisis that has worsened since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The agreement was extended three times before Moscow suspended it on July 17, 2023.
Since February 24, 2022, Russia has launched a military offensive against its neighbor Ukraine, and has made ending the offensive conditional on Kyiv abandoning its membership in Western military entities, a move Kyiv considers “interference” in its affairs.
