Turkey said that it will maintain its balanced stance and continue its multifaceted initiatives to establish peace, stability, security and justice in this critical period amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Speaking in a live televised interview with Turkish broadcaster NTV, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Thursday said that Turkey will adopt any sanctions only implemented by the United Nations against Russia, adding that Turkey has been acting in line with the international law and will maintain its balanced stance on the issue.

"The view toward Turkey has changed in a positive way. A stronger Turkey will become a much more important actor in the future. We will continue to follow a principled foreign policy. Even the critics saw the importance of a balanced policy," he said.

Repeating Turkey's call for the United Nations to be reformed, the top diplomat said that the ongoing war has the symptoms of a new cold war era.

Also underlining Turkey's efforts to host further peace talks between the warring sides, he said that the final decision is up to Russian President Vladimir Putin saying "yes."

Asked whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin will meet in Turkey, Çavuşoğlu said, "Intensive negotiations continue between the two delegations," adding that the meeting depends on Putin's final decision.

Stating that they will make an effort to bring the leaders together, Çavuşoğlu said, "Negotiations continue between our delegations."

The foreign minister noted that the scenes from Bucha have cast a shadow on the peace process.

Stating that the longer the problem lasts, the more difficult the solution becomes, Çavuşoğlu said, "Despite all the difficulties, there is a possibility of a cease-fire."

"The inhumane images from regions such as Bucha and Irpin, which we also condemn, changed the atmosphere. It created a negative atmosphere on the Ukrainian side. There were different statements of the Russian Federation regarding this, but in the end, this negatively affected the negotiation process."

In a message on his social media account, Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın echoed similar views and stated Wednesday that the Ukraine crisis continues to deepen.

He said that the world has entered a new cold war period and added: "Mutual mistakes, the search for a new balance of power and short-term interest calculations will cause great strategic losses and human drama in the medium-long term. We have entered a new era of cold war. The effects of this war will last for decades."

As the war between Russia and Ukraine sent energy and food prices soaring, Oxfam warned that fallout from the conflict, growing inequality and the COVID-19 pandemic could push more than a quarter of a billion people into extreme poverty this year.

"New balances will be established in every field, from food and energy security to geopolitical dynamics and regional alliances. Turkey will maintain its balanced stance and continue its multifaceted initiatives to establish peace, stability, security and justice in this critical period," he added.

Turkey is one of the most active countries working to ensure a permanent cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia. Its delicately balanced act of assuming a role as a mediator by keeping communication channels with both warring sides open provides a glimmer of hope in diplomatic efforts to find a solution and achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis. With its unique position of having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has won widespread praise for its push to end the war.

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. While Ankara has opposed international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from crossing through them.

In a breakthrough, Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks in Istanbul on March 29 as the war entered its second month with casualties piling up on both sides.

During the talks, Ukrainian officials signaled readiness to negotiate a "neutral status," a key Russian demand, but demanded security guarantees for their country. Ukraine wants to see countries, including Turkey, as guarantors in a deal with Russia, a Ukrainian negotiator said after the talks. Russia, meanwhile, pledged to significantly decrease its military activities focusing on the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv to build trust for future negotiations.

Turkey also hosted the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya last month. Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine met in the Turkish resort town of Antalya for talks, which Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also attended. The talks were largely inconclusive, but Ankara views the fact that the talks took place at all as a success. Ankara has offered to host future peace talks.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has many times reiterated his offer to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks to secure peace between the two countries. Erdoğan voiced hope that a possible summit between the two leaders in Istanbul could bring an end to the war.

Evacuation efforts

Çavuşoğlu also noted that there are still nearly 30 Turkish citizens waiting to be evacuated in Ukraine's southern port city of Mariupol, an area suffering from one of the worst humanitarian crises since Russia's invasion.

"As Turkey, we are working toward a solution," said Çavuşoğlu, during a statement regarding the evacuation of civilians from Ukraine.

"We carried out the evacuations in different ways," Çavuşoğlu said and added: "We achieved success in the evacuations despite all the risks."

Expressing that they think there are less than 30 Turkish citizens in Mariupol, Çavuşoğlu said, "We have not yet achieved the result we wanted."

The foreign minister also noted that there is no need for a ship for the evacuation of Turkish citizens in Mariupol.

Turkey is among the international actors that conduct plans for the evacuation of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian cities, particularly Mariupol.

A humanitarian evacuation mission from Ukraine’s embattled port city of Mariupol in cooperation with Turkey and Greece is still on the table, the French Presidency said recently.

The United Nations believes thousands of people have died in Mariupol after more than a month under Russian siege and relentless bombardment.