President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday said he believed that a new proposal package that has been prepared in consultations with the United Nations to address Russia’s concerns over the Black Sea Grain Initiative that helped ease a food crisis would yield positive outcomes "in a short time."
"Revitalization of the initiative is a priority for the whole world," Erdoğan told reporters late Monday aboard the presidential plane during his return from Russia. "We are in close contact with the U.N. on this issue."
Erdoğan's remarks followed his trip to the Black Sea resort of Sochi for a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The talks came more than one month after Moscow put on hold the key agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain and other commodities from three Black Sea ports despite the 18-month war.
Brokered by Türkiye and the U.N., the deal was seen as vital for global food supplies, especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other goods that developing nations rely on.
Russia put the deal on hold, complaining that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored and that insufficient Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need. It said restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade.
Erdoğan has been the biggest sponsor of the deal alongside the U.N. and had previously played a significant role in convincing Putin to stick with the deal.
He said Türkiye and the U.N. had worked on a new set of suggestions to address some Russian demands, and he repeated that he believed a solution could be found soon. He emphasized that Russia’s expectations were well-known to all and that the shortcomings should be eliminated.
"As a result of our contributions, the U.N. has prepared a new package that will pave the way for revitalization of the initiative. During his visit to Moscow, Foreign Minister (Hakan Fidan) discussed the technical aspect of this new package of proposals with his Russian counterpart (Sergei) Lavrov," Erdoğan noted.
He said he would discuss the initiative with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the U.N. General Assembly this month.
"I would like to reiterate that we appreciate and support the efforts of Guterres, the secretary-general," he added.
The Turkish leader will participate in the G-20 summit in India on Sept. 9-10 before attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 18-26.
Russia’s two demands
Russian demands include returning its Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT payments system and insuring the ships involved in the grain initiative, Erdoğan said.
"On Aug. 28, U.N. Secretary-General Guterres, in the letter he sent, proposed an intermediary mechanism that would result from the SWIFT transaction, not directly SWIFT as the Russians wanted," he noted. "They said work was underway on the insurance issue, too."
He added that Moscow was putting these two demands forth as "musts" to revive the initiative and that Putin had told him he would not take steps on this until "Europe keeps the promises they made me."
On Monday, Putin stressed Russia’s readiness for talks on the grain initiative but reiterated that there will be no new deal on shipping through the Black Sea until the West meets its obligations to facilitate Russian agricultural exports.
"We will be ready to consider the possibility of reviving the grain deal," he said. "And we will do it as soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on Russian agricultural exports are fully implemented."
A separate memorandum agreed with the U.N. in July 2022 called for conditions to facilitate Russia’s food and fertilizer exports.
Russian agricultural shipments are not subject to Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine and Russia exported record amounts of wheat last year. Moscow and agricultural exporters say restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have hindered shipments.
Having been trying to revive the agreement and use it as a basis for broader peace talks, Erdoğan said that Ankara was against alternative proposals to last year’s Ukraine grain deal.
He said other proposals have failed to offer a "sustainable, secure and lasting" model based on cooperation between the parties.
Both Ukraine and Russia have aired rival plans to start sending grain across the Black Sea on their own.
Ukraine last month announced a new temporary sea corridor through which it has already sent four cargo ships.
Erdoğan also expressed hope that the Russia-Ukraine war will end with a "just and lasting" peace based on international law, reiterating that Ankara is ready to do its part.
Türkiye has positioned itself to facilitate any peace talks between the warring sides. It has opposed the Russian invasion but also the Western sanctions on Moscow.
Erdoğan has maintained good relations with Putin and helped broker prisoner exchanges between the warring sides.
The Turkish leader has repeatedly called on the Western countries to consider Russia’s demands and said he hoped his talks with Putin could lead to restoring the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Putin on Monday said Moscow was close to finalizing an agreement that would facilitate free exports of grain from Russia to six African nations with the help of Türkiye and Qatar, stressing the proposal was not planned as an alternative to the Black Sea initiative.
The deal would include a supply of up to 1 million metric tons of grain to countries most in need via Türkiye with financial support from Qatar, the Russian leader said. The grain will be sent for subsequent processing at Turkish plants before being shipped to the African nations.
Gas center
Among others, Erdoğan also said Türkiye intends to establish a center with wide-ranging goals related to natural gas in Türkiye.
The center would be a financial center-like platform and would cover energy, natural gas and mining, he noted, adding that they would discuss the plans with Russia.
"We want to turn our country into a center beyond the pipelines in Thrace. With the investments in recent years, we will turn our country into a natural gas base. We are approaching the goal of making Türkiye the center of energy in its region," the president said.
On Monday, Putin said Russia was hoping to wrap up negotiations on setting up a natural gas trading hub in Türkiye in the near future for exports of Russian gas.
Putin has proposed the gas hub as part of Russia’s efforts to reroute its gas exports after a sharp fall in its shipments to Europe as a result of the Ukraine war.
"I hope that in the very near future, we will complete our negotiations," he said, stressing that such a center in Türkiye would "make the energy situation in the region more stable and balanced."
Putin said Russian gas giant Gazprom had submitted a draft road map for the hub to Türkiye’s state energy importer, Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ).
"On the agenda is the establishment of a joint working group, the coordination of the legal framework for the operation of the hub, the schemes for trading and transferring purchased gas," Putin said.
Fight against PKK/YPG
Erdoğan also spoke about the situation in Syria's north. Sporadic clashes linger in Syria’s north as a group of local Arab tribes fights the oppression of the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wing, the YPG, which seized territory with the support of the United States in the war-torn country.
The unprecedented act, which is actually a culmination of grievances of the tribes against the hegemony of the terrorist group, is lauded by Türkiye. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters that what was happening in Syria was a "reclamation of territory" by Arab tribes acting in unity. "They are the true owners of those lands," Erdoğan said in an interview while returning from a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. "Mr. Putin agrees that it is an important struggle," the president said.
Erdoğan said that the U.S. support for the terrorist group in the form of weapons and munitions did not serve the peace in the region. "Every piece of weapon given to the terrorist group fuels bloodshed in the region and disrupts the territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq," he said.
Clashes continued on Monday between Arab tribes and the terrorist group in the eastern Syria province of Deir ez-Zor. Operations launched by Arab tribes against the PKK/YPG that started last week expanded with the participation of other Arab tribes.
Erdoğan reiterated that the PKK and YPG are terrorist organizations. "The attitude of the tribes against the PKK and YPG by coming together is a struggle of honor," he added, stressing the terrorist group is dangerous for the people of the region.
Operations launched by Arab tribes against the PKK/YPG in the eastern Syria province of Deir ez-Zor that started last week expanded with the participation of other Arab tribes. Since Aug. 27, a total of 33 villages have been liberated from YPG/PKK occupation in the rural areas of the Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Hasakah provinces and the Manbij district of Aleppo.
"Countries that support these organizations must see that the terrorist group PKK/YPG does not recognize the right to live for the people of the region through its terrorist activities," Erdoğan said. Ankara is constantly informing the U.S. and Russia about the PKK/YPG’s terrorist activities that threaten Türkiye, he added. "There is no massacre or terrorist activity that this terrorist organization would not do to control the oil in Deir ez-Zor. We have made the necessary warnings to the addressee countries in this regard."
"It was seen that the ammunition and weapons aid provided by the U.S. to this terrorist organization did not serve the peace of the region. Every weapon given to the terrorist organization serves to continue the bloodshed in the region and to disrupt the territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria," Erdogan said.
As the terrorist group faces mounting resistance from Arab tribes who have been displaced by the PKK/YPG, it is gradually retreating from the villages it had previously occupied. Since Aug. 27, a total of 33 villages have been liberated from PKK/YPG occupation in the rural areas of the Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and Hasakah provinces and the Manbij district of Aleppo. The withdrawn PKK/YPG terrorists are resorting to nighttime attacks in an attempt to inflict casualties on the Arab tribes. The majority of the population in Deir ez-Zor, which the terrorist group occupied under the pretext of fighting Daesh with the support of the U.S. military, is Arabic. The terrorist group is also forcibly recruiting Arabs and children in the regions it occupies, as documented by reports by the U.N. and human rights groups. The terrorists generate income by selling the oil they obtained by seizing oil wells in the region to Damascus through smugglers despite U.S. sanctions. While the terrorist group uses this income for its own purposes, the people of the region are deprived of local services and much-needed aid.
Normalization with Syria
The president also spoke about Türkiye’s normalization process with the Assad regime, saying Bashar Assad "unfortunately" avoided taking concrete steps. "He watches steps taken in the quadrilateral format from afar," he said, referring to the process carried out with the support of Russia and Iran.
"He somehow does not take an active part. We launched these efforts with the hope that they would be more open, but we still don’t see any positive stance from Syria. We hope they will (change this stance) as the process continues," he said.
He said that normalization was possible if there was progress in the fight against terrorism, on the safe and voluntary return of refugees, and on the political process. He said that Türkiye always said that the process should be without conditions on the part of the Assad regime. "The Syrian regime has to act in line with the facts on the ground and avoid approaches that may harm the process."
"Without eliminating terrorism threatening our borders and citizens, without eliminating risks to populations' mobility, we will not change our approach that prioritizes our own security. Türkiye always supports the territorial integrity of its neighbors. Since the civil war began in Syria, we reiterated the fact that terrorist groups stationed (in Syria) are the greatest threat to Syria’s territorial integrity. We will continue our fight against terrorist groups threatening our country to the last member of those groups. We are in northern Syria to clear out the region and our country from those threats," he said, referring to a string of Turkish military operations that helped the Syrian opposition liberate areas occupied by Daesh and PKK/YPG.
Kirkuk calm
On situation in Kirkuk, Erdoğan said a deterioration in peace in the multiethnic Kirkuk would harm Iraq as a whole. Protests erupted on Monday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after four demonstrators were shot dead and 15 others were wounded in weekend clashes between ethnic groups. The demonstrators demanded that those responsible for the deaths be apprehended and brought to justice. The crowd said that if their demands were not met, they would organize larger protests. Shortly after the start of the rally, a large number of police and security forces were deployed to the area. The crowd later dispersed peacefully. Protests erupted in the city after a controversial decision to hand over a building previously occupied by the Iraqi army to a party from northern Iraq governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Speaking to reporters in a prerecorded interview released on Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that any act disturbing the peace in Kirkuk would harm the stability of Iraq. Erdoğan said Turkish intelligence and the Foreign Ministry were closely following the developments in Kirkuk. "We see a relative calm in Kirkuk as we observed from (Turkish officials') talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mr. (Mohammed S.) Al Sudani and their counterparts. I instructed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) President Ibrahim Kalın to follow the developments. (Our officials) held talks with Al Sudani, with the Barzani family," he said, referring to an influential clan whose members include leaders of the KRG. Erdoğan referred to Kirkuk as the "homeland of Turkmens," an ethnic Turkic community, and "a place where different cultures peacefully coexisted for centuries. "We will not allow acts that will harm the peace and integrity of this region," he said.