President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday discussed the war in Ukraine and Ankara’s planned military operation in northern Syria with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, along with regional development and bilateral ties.
In a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Erdoğan told Putin that peace needs to be established as soon as possible and confidence-building steps need to be taken on the conflict in Ukraine, the president's office said in a readout.
The president reiterated Ankara's willingness to keep doing its part for peace in Ukraine. Turkey is ready to resume a role in ending the war in Ukraine, including taking part in a possible “observation mechanism” after the first meeting with representatives of Russia, Ukraine, and the United Nations in Istanbul, Erdoğan told Putin during the phone call.
Erdoğan also said there is a need for steps to minimize the negative effects of the war and reestablish the groundwork for peace.
Turkey is one of the most active countries working to ensure a permanent cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia. Its delicately balanced act of assuming a role as a mediator by keeping communication channels with both warring sides open provides a glimmer of hope in diplomatic efforts to find a solution and achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis. With its unique position of having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has won widespread praise for its push to end the war.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Ankara has offered to mediate between the two sides and host peace talks, underlining its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. While Ankara has opposed international sanctions designed to isolate Moscow, it also closed its straits to prevent some Russian vessels from passing through them.
Negotiations in Istanbul held in March failed to make any headway but Turkey, which has close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, has repeatedly put itself forward as a possible mediator.
As Turkey last week hinted about a new military action on the country’s southern border with Syria, where attacks by the terrorist group PKK's Syrian branch YPG on civilians and neighboring Turkey continue, the Turkish president stressed that the regions along the border liberated from terrorists must be made safe and secure.
Erdoğan told Putin that a plan for the 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) deep terror-free zone had not been implemented on the Syrian border as was agreed upon in 2019, pointing out it is necessary to make this region safe.
Turkey borders Syria and Iraq to its south, and has worked to eliminate existing terrorist bases and prevent new ones there that would threaten its national security and the safety of locals across its borders.
Erdoğan said last week Ankara would soon launch new military operations along its southern borders to create safe zones 30 kilometers deep to combat terrorist threats from these regions.
Ankara has conducted three successful counterterrorism operations into northern Syria since 2016, clearing hundreds of kilometers of land and pushing some 30 kilometers deep into the country, in operations targeting mainly the U.S.-backed YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists. Russia, the Syrian regime and the United States also have troops in the border region.
For his part, Putin told Erdoğan that Russia was ready to facilitate the unhindered export of grain from Ukrainian ports in coordination with Turkey, according to a Kremlin readout of talks.
Besides the death and devastation sown by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the war and the West's attempt to isolate Russia as punishment have sent the price of grain, cooking oil, fertilizer and energy soaring, hurting global growth.
The United Nations, which says a global food crisis is deepening, is trying to broker a deal to unblock Ukraine's grain exports though Western leaders have blamed Russia for holding the world to ransom by blockading Ukrainian ports.
"During the discussion of the situation in Ukraine, emphasis was placed on ensuring safe navigation in the Black and Azov seas and eliminating the mine threat in their waters," the Kremlin said of Putin's call with Erdoğan.
"Vladimir Putin noted the readiness of the Russian side to facilitate the unhindered sea transit of goods in coordination with Turkish partners. This also applies to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports."
Putin, according to the Kremlin, added that if sanctions were lifted, then Russia could "export significant volumes of fertilizers and agricultural products."
It was not immediately clear which Ukrainian ports Putin was speaking of. Ukraine's main grain export ports include Chornomorsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kherson and Yuzhny.
Erdoğan later told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he "especially valued the project to create a secure sea route for exporting Ukrainian agricultural products," his office said, adding he welcomed, in principle, the idea of making Istanbul a headquarters for the "observation mechanism".
Erdoğan also repeated that Turkey was ready to support any peace efforts between Ukraine and Russia, the statement added.
Ukraine is trying to export its grains by road, river and rail to help avert a global food crisis but will not hit its targets unless Russia's blockade, an official at Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry told Reuters last week.
Before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, the country had the capacity to export up to 6 million tonnes of wheat, barley and maize a month but exports collapsed to just 300,000 tonnes in March and 1.1 million in April.
Russia and Ukraine together account for 29% of global wheat exports, mainly via the Black Sea, and for 80% of global exports of sunflower oil.
Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley and rapeseed oil, while Russia and Belarus - which has backed Moscow in the war and is also under sanctions - account for over 40% of global exports of the crop nutrient potash.
Russia has captured some of Ukraine's biggest seaports and its navy controls major transport routes in the Black Sea, where extensive mining has made commercial shipping dangerous.
Sanctions have also made it hard for Russian exporters to access vessels to move commodities to global markets.
Putin has said Russia will increase wheat exports in the new July-June season due to a potential record crop of 87 million tonnes.
