Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu speaking at a joint press conference held with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin in Kiev yesterday reaffirmed Turkey's position on the illegal annexation of Crimea as he underlined the necessity of enhancing bilateral relations and cooperation.

As part of his two-day visit, Çavuşoğlu traveled to Ukraine to attend the fifth meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning Group, where he also met with the leader of Crimean Tatars Kırımoğlu and Chairman of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People Chubarov.

In that respect, the Turkish foreign minister had reiterated that Turkey does not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and supports Ukraine's territorial sovereignty and political unity. In addition to the Crimean leader, Çavuşoğlu was received by the representative of the World Union of Ahıska Turks in Ukraine, Marat Rasulov and members of the delegation.

Çavuşoğlu's visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Ukraine. As the Joint Strategic Planning Group functions under the High Level Strategic Council between the two countries, Çavuşoğlu said yesterday that the High Level Strategic Council meeting will be held in Ukraine in 2017.