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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul on Friday to hold talks on the course of the war in Ukraine, the discontinued Black Sea grain trade and increasing cooperation between defense industries, reported.
The Turkish president’s office said the meeting began after Zelensky visited a shipyard near Istanbul to inspect work on two corvette warships being built for the Ukrainian navy.
Turkey, as a member of NATO, supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but at the same time maintains good relations with Russia and regularly negotiates with both parties involved in the war in Ukraine. It turns out that both parties are involved in the Black Sea Agreement, i.e. the new way of allowing Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, which lifted the de facto Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain exports.
Visit to Turkey. Istanbul. Shipyards where corvettes are built for our Navy. He familiarized himself with the degree of readiness and equipment of the “Ivan Mazepa” corvette. Talked with servicemen of the Navy of Ukraine. Thank you for your service. We are adding strength to our state.
I also got acquainted with… pic.twitter.com/E06z7hFtkr
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) March 8, 2024
Zelensky’s visit to Istanbul precedes the expected visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the Kremlin says will only take place on March 15-17. there will be an opportunity after the Russian elections between
Turkey continues to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity
The agenda of the meeting between the two presidents was the peace formula aimed at ending the war with Russia, the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Moscow, and bilateral defense industrial relations.
At the start of the meeting, Zelensky said on the X social media platform that Ankara and Kiev should work together on food security and Black Sea shipping security, adding that Ukraine wants closer defense ties with Turkey and needs its help in securing the release of prisoners.
We are interested in strengthening bilateral cooperation and co-production with Turkish defense companies
– He told.
According to a Turkish diplomatic source of the newspaper, Ankara reiterated that negotiations are the only acceptable way to end the war, while also emphasizing that it continues to strongly support Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
At the same forum, when asked whether Ukraine could continue fighting if Western support dwindled, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mykola Tochsitky said that only a full Russian withdrawal could end the war, even if Ukraine had no 100 percent support among Western countries.
The grain business is on the agenda
Among the items on the agenda of the Zelenskyi-Erdogan meeting was the safety of navigation of commercial ships between Russia and Ukraine, after the termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Russia canceled last July.
An agreement brokered by Turkey and the UN allowed Ukraine to safely export grain from its Black Sea ports.
Erdogan pushed for the deal to be revived, but Russia, which it says has ignored requests for better terms on its own food and fuel exports, has scrapped it. Turkey, which has exclusive control over the two straits of the Black Sea, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, provided military support to Kiev, but at the same time opposed Western sanctions against Russia.
As part of the balancing act, Ankara has offered to mediate between the parties and host peace talks, while maintaining defense industrial ties with Ukraine and deepening energy cooperation with Russia.
An agreement was also reached that Turkey would participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
(Cover photo: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul, Turkey on March 8, 2024. Photo: Turkish Presidential Press Office / Handout / )
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