Türkiye to endure efforts for peace between Russia-Ukraine: Erdoğan
ANKARA
Despite problems and preventions from the Western world, Türkiye will continue its efforts for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed, stressing Ankara will use its diplomatic means to this end.
“We are not going to give up our efforts for peace. We will continue to do whatever is necessary for reaching peace [between Russia and Ukraine],” Erdoğan told a group of journalists on his return from Egypt on Feb. 15.
On a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent statement that talks between Moscow and Kiev under the Turkish mediation in 2022 have been suspended because of the West’s interference, Erdoğan supported the interpretation of the Russian leader as “sincere.”
“I should put bluntly that there is sincerity in Mr. Putin’s statements. We have taken all the possible genuine steps in those talks, dubbed the Istanbul Process,” he said, recalling, however, that these efforts remained futile.
“But, we cannot give up just because we could not get the desired results [from the earlier efforts],” Erdoğan underlined.
Türkiye had engaged with both warring countries right after the war started in early 2022 and brought them together in Antalya and Istanbul, but these efforts could not be accomplished at that time.
Erdoğan said Türkiye was ready to launch a new process in case both sides are willing to do so as was seen in brokering the grain initiative in mid-2022. “We can do it [by bringing the two sides together] again and open the doors for peace through a result-oriented process. We still look for such an opportunity in our talks with both Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodmyry] Zelensky,” he stated.
“What we say from the very beginning is that a fair peace is much better than war, and we take all our steps in line with this understanding. As long as we seek for peace, we’ll definitely find a way,” the president added.
Positive spirit in Turkish-American ties
On the state of ties with the United States after the resolution of the long-term F-16s sale saga, Erdoğan described the mood in bilateral ties as positive. “The climate in the U.S. Congress and in the Senate is positive. It is possible to say that the number of issues we agree on with the U.S. is increasing. There is a positive trend with the U.S.,” he said.
Erdoğan also answered a question about a recent ruling by the Council of State - Türkiye’s top administrative court - that reinstated around 450 judges and prosecutors who were dismissed from their jobs due to their affiliations with the FETÖ, a terror group that sought to unseat the government through a coup in 2016.
“It’s not possible for us to remain silent on this decision by the Council of State. As we, the People’s Alliance, do not remain indifferent to some strange decisions taken by the Constitutional Court, we cannot remain silent on this [by the Council of State] either. Besides, I cannot digest the decisions taken by the Constitutional Court,” Erdoğan stated.
