Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday during a working visit to Kyiv to revive the crucial Black Sea grain deal and discuss efforts to end the war with Russia ahead of a later trip to Moscow on an unspecified date.
The Black Sea grain deal, which was brokered by Türkiye and the United Nations in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis, allowed grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports until Russia exited the deal last month, complaining that it was unable to export its own grain and fertilizer despite commitments made under the deal.
"Many important issues were discussed. (Ukraine's) Peace Formula. Preparations for the Global Peace Summit (planned by Ukraine). Risks posed by the Russian blockade of the Black Sea grain corridor," Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app after the meeting.
Fidan will be holding talks with other Ukrainian officials, as well, according to diplomatic sources.
The Turkish foreign minister is also set to visit Moscow soon, Russian state news agency RIA confirmed Friday.
The trip would constitute Ankara’s latest initiative to persuade Russia to return to the deal and precede a much-anticipated meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin likely to take place in Türkiye later this month.
As he confirmed Putin would hold talks with Erdoğan in person on the deal and other pressing issues, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "We usually synchronize announcements of such visits with our partner countries. We will announce shortly when and where it will take place. The meeting is being prepared and is being prepared very thoroughly."
Putin told Erdoğan in a phone call on Aug. 2 that Moscow was ready to return to the Black Sea grain deal as soon as the West met its obligations regarding Russia's own grain exports.
Russia's grain and fertilizer exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine. But Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have been a barrier to shipments.
Global grain prices have risen since Moscow let the deal expire on July 17, while Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports and grain storage facilities.
Turkish foreign policy
Fidan’s visit thus comes at a critical time following the expansion of BRICS this week and ahead of the G-20 summit and U.N. Security Council meeting in September, which will accelerate the global geopolitical traffic, pundits have said.
Fidan’s trip to Ukraine, notably right after he met counterparts in Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), is also the first link in diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war Türkiye seems set to expedite, journalist Mehmet A. Kancı told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Turkish diplomacy has reached a "system-maker" status and it’s planned and conducted in line with economic targets to help advance global and regional prosperity, Kancı pointed out. "The grain deal is known as the biggest example in establishing a system to resolve an international crisis and ensuring stability in the Black Sea while strengthening the hand of the U.N. whose global reputation has weakened."
For Kancı, it’s also "impossible" to think of Fidan’s visit to Ukraine separately from his attendance at the International Conference on Development and Migration in Rome in July or his meetings with Iraqi officials this week with a focus on the Development Path Project.
These demonstrate that Türkiye, sitting on the crossroads of East and West, North and South, migration, food, supply and energy crises, is concentrated on cooperation to increase the durability of its neighbors against such crises, Kancı said.
Reinstating the Black Sea grain deal is therefore crucial to reviving the climate of cooperation in this region, he stressed.
While Russia is determined to ship its grain and fertilizers to African nations in need, the U.S. is looking for ways to bring Ukrainian grain to its Western allies, Kancı argued, citing a Wall Street Journal article claiming that Washington was currently working on a formula to resume grain shipments via the Danube River.
"The search for a solution from all sides for the global food crisis and simultaneously soaring inflation rates everywhere makes Fidan’s visit to Ukraine extra meaningful and vital," he said.
The talks between the Turkish diplomat and Ukrainian officials could also be an opportunity to reveal some harsh but mathematical realities to Kyiv about its potential to win the war in the field, Kancı pointed out.
He argued that the F-16 fighter jets that will not arrive in Ukraine until 2024, and the dwindling supply of arms and munition to Ukraine from NATO states were shaping to be the "last advantage" the West could provide Ukraine.
Both CIA and British intelligence have been leaking to the press that expectations regarding Ukraine’s counterattack should be lowered and it should push diplomatic methods while CIA Director William Burns is said to be seeking ground with counterparts in Russia and China for peace, Kancı said.
"The pressure of declining human resources and arms and munition in the field could make it impossible for Ukraine to keep up its war in 2024," he concluded.