Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held bilateral meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday, while Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said they appreciate Turkey’s efforts and expect positive results from the ongoing negotiation talks.
Çavuşoğlu noted that he held the meeting ahead of the groundbreaking trilateral meeting between Turkey, Russia and Ukraine to find a solution to the ongoing war.
On Monday, Çavuşoğlu announced the meeting would be held between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers.
Çavuşoğlu will attend the meeting since both leaders have requested his presence, the minister said, adding that it will bring high-level Russian and Ukrainian officials together for the first time since the war began on Feb. 24.
The three-day Antalya Diplomacy Forum in the Turkish resort city of the same name is set to start Friday, and the Russian-Ukrainian meeting the day prior.
Since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, Turkey has been participating in active diplomatic efforts to bring the relevant parties together, Çavuşoğlu said, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made 19 phone calls to his counterparts.
Maintaining its neutral and balanced stance, Turkey continues its diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the Ukraine conflict, urging all sides to exercise restraint. While Ankara has opposed international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from crossing the Turkish Straits.
NATO ally Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. Since the beginning of the conflict, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks, underlining its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Having recently called Russia’s invasion an unacceptable violation of international law, Turkey has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, with which it has close energy, defense and tourism ties.
Meanwhile, Podolyak told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Ukraine appreciates Turkey’s mediating efforts and the negotiations are still ongoing between Russia and Ukraine.
"We are pleased that we have international partners who have been trying to undertake the role of a mediator and Turkey plays an active role with the joint efforts of the international community," Podolyak said.
He noted that Thursday’s meeting between the three foreign ministers in Turkey will be the second leg of the negotiation talks.
"To me, it seems like Kuleba will present a more objective picture to Lavrov and this will pave the way for them to reach a point in the negotiation process and reach some kind of a reconciliation," Podolyak said.
"I think we will be closer to a cease-fire in principle in the near future," he said.
He also noted that the Russian military, which aims to take over a large part of Ukraine, has changed its tactics from bombing military infrastructure, airports and command centers to preventing civilian resistance to attacking civilian areas, including cities, towns and villages.
"They are trying to create a humanitarian crisis around different parts of the country," he said, adding that Russia aims to push Ukrainians into a state of panic and prevent access to basic necessities like food, medicines and halt evacuation efforts.