Ankara on Friday proposed holding a meeting between the presidents of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United States – Erdoğan, Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump– in a new initiative aimed at ending the long-running conflict in Ukraine that began after the Russian invasion in February 2022.
‘We sincerely believe that it is possible to culminate the first and second direct negotiations in Istanbul with a meeting between President Trump, President Putin and President Zelenskyy hosted by President Erdoğan,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, quoted by agencies, said on Friday during a joint press appearance with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in Kiev, as part of an official visit to Ukraine in which Fidan also met with Zelenskyy himself. Earlier this week, the Turkish foreign minister travelled to Moscow to meet with Lavrov and Putin.
“We can close our eyes to the continuation of this war, or we can reach a lasting peace before the end of the year… But as Turkey, we have always kept this perspective: the cities destroyed in the war are Ukrainian cities, the people who have died are Ukrainian soldiers. Therefore, we need to stop the devastating impact caused by this war as soon as possible,” Fidan stressed, adding that the prospects for a peace agreement have increased, especially after the recent resumption of negotiations in Istanbul.
In response to the Turkish proposal, however, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again made it clear that Putin would not come to a meeting in person and that any face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy, Erdoğan and Putin would only take place in the event of a successful conclusion of the resumed peace talks in Istanbul: “President Putin has repeatedly said that he is in favour of high-level contacts. But first, results must be achieved through direct negotiations between the two countries’.
Russia has also announced that it is ‘ready’ for a second round of contacts with Ukraine in Istanbul next Monday, which the Ukrainian government has not yet confirmed it will attend. Kiev wants to know first the ‘memorandum’ that Lavrov said has been completed detailing Putin’s demands for an end to the war, including an end to NATO enlargement to the east and Ukrainian withdrawal from territories claimed by Russia, demands that Zelenskyy considers unacceptable; although Moscow insists that this memorandum will only be delivered in person to the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul, Ukraine demands to know it in advance before travelling again to the Turkish metropolis.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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