Ukraine is working with NATO member Turkey as much as possible for more support over Russia's invasion of the country and understands – even though it is not happy with – the reality of Ankara's parallel ties to Moscow, a Ukrainian diplomat said.
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 received 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 crossing through them.
"We would be happy if Turkey joined the sanctions" and suspended flights from Russia. "But we understand this reality," the diplomat told foreign journalists on the condition of anonymity.
"Instead of criticizing Turkey, we are working with the Turkish side as much as possible and not demanding something that is improbable," the diplomat added, noting that it was still the only country that had managed to bring together Russian and Ukrainian officials for peace talks.
The diplomat cited data showing more than 100,000 Russians had arrived in Turkey and sought residence documents since the war began. Over the same period, however, some 85,000 Ukrainians have also arrived, of whom around 47,000 have since moved on to other countries or returned home, the person said.
Turkey has also barred some Russian warships from transiting its straits to the Black Sea, thereby "saving" Ukraine's coastal city of Odessa, which has resisted Russian attacks, the diplomat said.
The diplomat said some Russian vessels are still transiting and could bring supplies from Syrian waters. "We are asking the Turkish side to monitor what they are bringing from Syria to Russia."
Turkey opposes Russia's policies in Syria and Libya and its 2014 annexation of Crimea but has bought Russia's S-400 missile defense system, for which Ankara was hit with U.S. sanctions in December 2020.
In a breakthrough, Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for peace talks in Istanbul on March 29 as the war entered its second month, with casualties piling up on both sides.
Within the scope of its mediation efforts, Turkey also hosted the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya last month. Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine met in the Turkish resort town of Antalya for talks, which Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also attended.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reiterated his offer to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks to secure peace between the two countries. Erdoğan voiced hope that a possible summit between the two leaders in Istanbul could bring an end to the war.
On the other side, Turkey has also stepped up its role as a player in helping evacuations of civilians from Ukraine's southern port city of Mariupol, an area suffering from one of the worst humanitarian crises since Russia's invasion.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu noted recently that there are still nearly 30 Turkish citizens waiting to be evacuated. The citizens took shelter in a mosque in Mariupol, officials said.
"As Turkey, we are working toward a solution," said Çavuşoğlu, during a statement regarding the evacuation of civilians from Ukraine.
On Sunday, Sputnik cited Igor Yevgenyevich Konashenkov, spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry, as saying that a special operation was conducted on Saturday to rescue people trapped in a Turkish mosque in Mariupol’s Primorskiy region. No statement came from the Turkish Foreign Ministry on the issue.
Just a day earlier, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov in a phone call and underlined the need for an immediate cease-fire as well as the emergency for evacuating Turkish citizens and civilians from both land and sea routes.
He also added that Turkey would continue efforts for sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Amid Turkey’s heavy traffic on evacuation processes, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that Ukraine and Russia have failed to agree Sunday about humanitarian convoys for the evacuation of civilians from war-affected areas.
"We have not been able to agree ... about cease-fires on evacuation routes. That is why, unfortunately, we are not opening humanitarian corridors today," she said on her Telegram account.
Vereshchuk also said that the Ukrainian authorities have asked for humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and wounded Ukrainian troops from the besieged port of Mariupol.
