President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Ukraine's President Zelenskyy that work has started work on the revitalization of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, as they met on the sidelines of the NATO leaders' summit in Washington on Thursday.
Erdoğan told Zelenskyy that Türkiye continued its efforts for a just peace and is ready to take any initiative, including mediation, to ensure peace.
The two leaders discussed the course of the Ukraine-Russia war, as well as regional and global issues, the Presidential Communications Directorate said.
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 as well as 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.
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.
Moscow withdrew from the accord on July 17, accusing the West of hampering its own grain and fertilizer exports, and has since attacked Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure. It has said that it was ready to return to the deal once an accompanying agreement concerning Russia was implemented.
