Türkiye is continuing with its efforts to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together to launch diplomatic negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Monday.
Speaking during a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in the capital Tokyo during a visit there to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Çavuşoğlu said: "War has no winner. To end this war, it is more likely to return to the negotiating table once both sides realize this. There must be a just peace, especially for Ukraine. The occupied territories are the territory of Ukraine."
"Leaders who want the war to continue also need to be persuaded. As Türkiye, we have not lost our hope, we will continue our efforts. Our president (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) will continue his contacts with Putin and Zelenskyy. Our aim is to bring the two leaders together to ensure that decisions are made at the level of the leaders. The whole world pays the price of war."
Türkiye has always expressed its commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and political unity since Crimea's annexation in 2014, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Thursday.
Speaking to reporters at the Turkish House (Türkevi) center in New York, Erdoğan said the prisoner swap carried out by Russia and Ukraine, involving almost 300 people and mediated by Türkiye, was an important step toward ending the war.
Among those swapped, five senior Ukrainian commanders have arrived in Türkiye, where they will remain until the end of the war, with Zelenskyy hailing them as "superheroes."
Erdoğan said that the exchange occurred as a result of the diplomatic traffic that he conducted with Zelenskyy and Putin.
"Türkiye has now received the result of its belief in the power of dialogue and diplomacy," he said.
NATO member Türkiye has close ties with both Russia and Ukraine and has sought to balance relations through the war, rejecting Western sanctions on Moscow while also criticizing the Russian invasion and supplying Kyiv with armed drones.
"We will continue our efforts to achieve peace and stability in the future. For instance, as soon as we return, we will call the leaders again and continue our telephone diplomacy with them," he added. He added that the U.N. should take the initiative and make more efforts to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Global system
Noting the importance of countries like Türkiye, Japan, Brazil, and India in a "multi-polar world," Çavuşoğlu also stressed that the current international system fails to respond to ongoing problems.
"The revival of Asia has changed the global balance. Pandemics, climate change, migration, terrorism, and energy and food crises are the common problems of humanity. Unfortunately, the current international system fails to respond to these," he said.
The current system paves way for competition rather than solidarity, Çavuşoğlu stressed and said the such competition was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the migration issue.
"In such eras, global actors need to assume common sense, dialogue, and diplomacy," he said, adding that Türkiye follows such foreign policy actively.
In issues related to Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Caucasus, Libya, and Syria, Ankara has carried on an active policy bearing results in favor of the entire world, according to the Turkish minister.
Both soft and hard power must be used in the face of crises, Çavuşoğlu noted, saying the ability to "speak to both East and West is an important asset for us. As a NATO member and a candidate for the EU membership, we have been one of the few actors who could manage to have active relations with Russia (amid Moscow's war on Ukraine)."
On Türkiye-Japan relations, Çavuşoğlu hailed the longstanding bilateral ties, affirming his country's readiness to further strengthen Ankara's strategic partnership with Tokyo.
"We see great potential in areas like the defense industry, energy, science, and technology," he added.