Turkish Ambassador to the United Nations Ahmet Yıldız called Monday for immediate efforts to prevent the Ukraine conflict from escalating further with potentially devastating global repercussions.
"The highly attritional nature of the conflict remains unsustainable for all parties involved," Yıldız told a U.N. Security Council session on Ukraine. He highlighted the mounting toll of the war, which has inflicted "profound suffering on millions in Ukraine and beyond."
Noting that the risk of uncontrolled escalation remains significant, Yıldız said, "This escalating trend might reach an unmanageable level with severe regional and global repercussions." "The world cannot afford a prolonged war in Ukraine. That's why we need to focus our efforts on finding a workable, pragmatic and realistic plan to achieve peace to avoid a global catastrophe," he stressed.
Yıldız outlined Türkiye's principled stance on the crisis, emphasizing a three-pronged policy: commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, support for peace initiatives and efforts to mitigate the war’s fallout. "Despite the risks involved, there is still no strategic vision on how to end this war," he said, adding that "both sides are still investing in a military victory." The Turkish envoy affirmed that "a just peace can only be achieved through direct dialogue and mutual understanding" and added that issues such as food and energy security, maritime safety in the Black Sea and prisoner exchanges could serve as starting points for peace talks. He emphasized Türkiye's readiness to mediate, saying "Türkiye is prepared to play a facilitating role again when the sides are ready." He further urged the international community to act swiftly, saying "The time has come to identify common ground and establish the most needed peace in Ukraine."
Turkish Foreign Ministry sources on Monday denied that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would propose a postponement for Ukraine's membership to NATO. Sources said parts of Bloomberg's Monday report did not reflect the truth. They also highlighted that Türkiye supports diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the war. After more than a thousand days of the Russian war on Ukraine, which started in February 2022, the said report by Bloomberg claimed that Ankara was preparing a proposal to stop the war and that Kyiv was envisaged to make some concessions to Moscow within the scope of this proposal. The said proposal would be voiced by Erdoğan at the G-20 summit in Brazil he is currently attending, according to Bloomberg.
