Amid Ankara’s efforts to mediate peace in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Türkiye’s Ombudsman Institution is set to inspect this week prisoner camps in both countries that could ultimately lead to another exchange of captives.
"It will be a key development for the humanitarian corridor which will involve the reunion of orphaned children and prisoners with their families," Chief Ombudsman Şeref Malkoç told Turkish newspaper Sabah.
Malkoç’s team will be drafting reports on these visits to submit to the Ukrainian and Russian governments, as well as the United Nations and other international organizations.
Malkoç said the team would first visit Ukraine's war zones, including Odesa, to meet with displaced residents and families of prisoners held captive by Russia.
"We will also meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian prisoners in Ukrainian camps to assess human rights conditions there," he said.
The team will conduct similar visits in Russia.
A peace climate has emerged with Zelenskyy’s visit to Istanbul earlier this month and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s frequent talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Malkoç said.
Pointing out Erdoğan’s "insistence" on restoring peace, he said there has been "significant progress" made in the past two months thanks to the Turkish leader’s attempts.
"In that vein, I believe we will see positive developments in the coming days," Malkoç said. "I hope the grain corridor resumes, and women, children and prisoners are exchanged."
Türkiye has positioned itself as an intermediary in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Erdoğan was a key player in brokering the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Türkiye hosted a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers as well as unsuccessful talks between negotiators from the two countries aimed at ending the hostilities.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two years. For its campaign, Kyiv has received massive international support, mostly from Western allies, in the form of weapons deliveries, humanitarian aid and sanctions against Russia.
Türkiye was a key player in the now-on-hold deal that allowed for the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea despite the blockade of its ports after Moscow launched its invasion in late February 2022.
The accord, brokered by Ankara and the United Nations in July 2022, ended after Moscow refused to renew it. Ankara has ramped up efforts to try to revive the initiative.
Moscow withdrew from the accord on July 17, accusing the West of hampering its grain and fertilizer exports. It has since attacked Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure. Moscow has said that it was ready to return to the deal once an accompanying agreement concerning Russia was implemented.
Ankara also helped arrange the exchange of some 200 prisoners in September 2022.
The Turkish ombudsman believes both Russia and Ukraine are "exhausted of war."
"I think after two years of war, both countries are looking around for someone to intervene and reconcile them. They’re both exhausted and their resources have been wasted," he said.
Malkoç further argued that the terror attack that killed at least 137 people in a Moscow concert hall last Friday was the "work of those looking to sabotage the reconciliation process" between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia lowered flags to half-mast for a day of mourning and charged four men it accused of gunning down scores of people at a concert outside Moscow on Friday night. It was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades and the most fatal in Europe to have been claimed by Daesh.
"Whenever there’s hope for peace between the sides, something happens," Malkoç said, pointing out how the intervention of "certain countries stoking war" ruined the groundwork for negotiations in the recent past.
"In the past month, there was significant progress made for peace, the possibility of other positive developments. The timing of the attack feels like it was deliberate," the ombudsman said.