Located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, and in a region affected by active, frozen and potential conflicts, Türkiye plays a pioneering role in mediation efforts – most recently proven by the constructive and concrete steps taken to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Türkiye, for long, has been engaging in raising awareness and creating capacity for mediation to achieve sustained peace, stability and prosperity in its neighborhood and beyond. Ankara boasts a multilayered and diverse architecture of initiatives including mediation efforts on the field, co-chairmanship of the Groups of Friends at the U.N., the OSCE and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), hosting international Mediation Conferences and the “Mediation for Peace” Certificate Program.
Similarly, in this war, NATO member Türkiye, having close relations with both Black Sea nations, positioned itself as a neutral broker for peace in 2022, aiming to continue to do so in 2023.
Türkiye frequently voiced that Russia's war on Ukraine "will not end easily," despite Ankara's repeated efforts to arrange peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow. Ankara initially aims to broker a humanitarian cease-fire, which would be followed by a permanent cease-fire and subsequent peace talks.
Another aspect highlighted by Ankara during this process was to urge the West to not completely halt dialogue with Russia but to engage with the country if peace was to be established. The United States and European Union, despite Türkiye’s efforts to end the war, have criticized Ankara for maintaining ties with Moscow.
"Unfortunately, the West has only made provocations and failed to make efforts to be a mediator in the Ukraine-Russia war. As Türkiye, we assumed this mediator role in 2022, and began to operate the Black Sea grain corridor," said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last week at a youth event in the eastern Erzurum province.
Since the start of the war, Türkiye has strived to maintain a balance between Ukraine and Russia. Türkiye closed its straits to military vessels within days of the war starting, preventing Moscow from reinforcing its fleet while the Turkish president continued to have regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and refused to join Western sanctions.
Ankara has been highly critical of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but opposes non-U.N. sanctions on Russia and has kept flights open with its Black Sea neighbor.
Türkiye enabled a prisoner swap between the warring countries. Also, Turkish mediation proved vital in facilitating the signing of a deal between Türkiye, the U.N., Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul to reopen certain Ukrainian ports to release grain that had been stuck for months owing to the ongoing conflict – a development that has been crucial in responding to a growing global food crisis.
Türkiye 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 mediator role 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, Türkiye has won widespread appreciation 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 crossing.
In a breakthrough, Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks in Istanbul on March 29. Türkiye also hosted the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya in March.
The 8th Istanbul Mediation Conference was also held on the same day and attended by high-level representatives of international organizations, including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who sent a video message.
Beside the current Ukraine-Russia war, Türkiye has had experience in mediation on a broad geographical arena in previous years, which include efforts for internal reconciliation in Iraq, Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan; two separate trilateral cooperation processes launched with the participation of Serbia and Croatia to achieve stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina; a trilateral cooperation mechanism launched with Afghanistan and Pakistan; assistance to talks between Somalia and Somaliland; and support to the peace process in southern Philippines.
On the other hand, Türkiye’s increased role in mediation efforts between the two warring countries has also led to a rapprochement with Russia. Ankara enabling the renewal of the grain deal after its initial expiration despite Russian discontent with the initiative is one of the indicators of Türkiye’s growing ties and influence on Russia.
The second agreement, between Moscow and the U.N., was aimed to facilitate the export of Russian food and fertilizers, which are exempt from Western sanctions imposed on Moscow. In an effort to render the deal more effective, Türkiye said the country will dispatch flour from Russian granaries to African countries in need with Russian and U.N. participation. Erdoğan said that Europe received about 44% of grain exports from Ukraine, while Türkiye received 16% and African countries 14%.
Moreover, trade turnover between Russia and Türkiye doubled in the first nine months of this year to reach $45 billion while prospects for further cooperation arise as Putin, this year, has proposed to turn Türkiye into an “energy hub.”
Russians also overtook Iranians as Türkiye's biggest foreign home buyers, purchasing 11,334 properties nationwide in the first 10 months of the year, or a fifth of total foreign purchases.
