Türkiye's goal is to stop the bloodshed in the Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible despite hurdles, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday ahead of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
"Our goal is to continue the momentum gained despite the difficulties in the field and to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible," Erdoğan said at the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in the Kazakh capital Astana.
The president said that Türkiye's intensive efforts with the United Nations and the warring parties to curb the negative effects of the conflict have been appreciated by the entire world.
He underlined that the Istanbul grain deal reached in July and the prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine in September are both "tangible achievements" in this direction.
Erdoğan discussed these issues as well as bilateral ties with Putin later on the sidelines of the summit.
"I say that a just peace can be achieved through diplomacy, that there will be no winners in war and no losers in a just peace," Erdoğan said further at CICA.
Ankara earlier this week warned that Russia and Ukraine were moving away from a diplomatic solution, making the outcomes of a prolonged war even more complicated.
Most recently, Türkiye enabled a prisoner swap between the warring countries. Also, Turkish mediation proved vital in facilitating the signing of a deal between Türkiye, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul to reopen certain Ukrainian ports to release grain that had been stuck for months because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war – a development that has been crucial in responding to a growing global food crisis.
Türkiye 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, Türkiye 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.
Highlighting the importance of the summit in Astana, Erdoğan said: "Today's Astana summit will go down in history as the summit where the conference turned into an international organization.
“We are going through a period in which the balances in the world have changed and we face serious tests in many fields. Threats such as Islamophobia and xenophobia are added to this. The structure that cares about the happiness of a handful of minorities who ignore the overwhelming majority of the world's population still remains. It should be shaped by a new understanding that is just and equitable."
Erdoğan also stressed that terrorist groups continue to threaten the world as he decried that the leaders of the PKK terrorist organization, Daesh and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) – the group behind the defeated 2016 coup in Türkiye – continue to get support.
"The entities that help terrorist groups and take part in propaganda financing, and recruiting activities should be blocked with no discrimination," he underlined.
The president also touched upon the recent terror incidents in Afghanistan in his speech and he called on the leaders to support Afghanistan.
“We should not leave Afghanistan to its fate. We, as the international community, should continue to support it with humanitarian aid," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan said Türkiye believes the global security architecture should be designed with a more just, equitable, and representative understanding, adding that Ankara promotes multi-mode transport routes and supports reviving the Silk Road linking Asia and Europe.
