President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç is set to represent Türkiye at the Ukraine peace talks that will be hosted by Saudi Arabia this weekend, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
During the meeting, the latest situation in Ukraine, as well as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-step peace plan, will be discussed, and views will be exchanged for peace between Russia and Ukraine. The first meeting of the summit was held in Copenhagen in late July with the attendance of foreign policy and security advisers from 17 countries.
Representatives from NATO, the EU Commission and EU Council, national security advisers from Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the U.K., the U.S., Japan, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are expected to reassemble in Jeddah for the second meeting.
Ukraine and Western officials hope that the talks, which exclude Russia, can lead to international backing for peace terms favoring Ukraine. Türkiye, in the meantime, has argued Moscow should be included to end the conflict.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow will be monitoring the meeting and its outcome.
"Undoubtedly, Russia will keep an eye on this meeting. We'd have to fully understand what goals are being set and what the organizers actually plan to talk about. We have repeatedly said that any attempts to somehow contribute to a peaceful settlement deserve a positive assessment," Peskov said.
The Kremlin claims to have annexed around a sixth of Ukraine and has said it views peace talks with Ukraine as possible only if Kyiv accepts "new realities," a reference to its territorial claims. Kyiv says negotiations with Russia would be possible only after Moscow withdraws its troops.
Kılıç will also hold bilateral talks with his counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting.
Türkiye and Saudi Arabia have emerged as key peace brokers in the conflict as their leaders helped facilitate a vital exchange of prisoners last year. Erdoğan and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are also attempting to broker a deal to bring Ukrainian children forcefully deported by Russia back to their families, media reports last month said.
Ankara, who staged two early rounds of peace negotiations, has repeatedly called on Kyiv and Moscow to end the war through negotiations. Additionally, it has been trying to revive the critical Black Sea grain deal it helped strike together with the U.N. last year.
While Russia has been reluctant to return to the deal, Erdoğan and Putin held a phone call on Wednesday where the Russian president said Moscow was ready to return to the accord once the part that concerns Russia was implemented.
