Turkey to continue trying for diplomacy between Moscow, Kiev: FM
Russia and Ukraine have held talks in Turkey in a bid to simmer down tensions between Moscow and Kiev.
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Television footage showed the Russian and Ukrainian delegations sitting at tables facing each other (Reuters)
Ankara will continue making efforts at resolving the differences between Russia and Ukraine, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday.
"We sincerely hope that peace prevails in our region. We will continue our efforts for diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine," Cavusoglu said on Twitter.
At a time of great need for peace, met with my Russian and Ukrainian counterparts Lavrov & Kuleba in a tripartite format on the margins of @AntalyaDF.
— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) March 10, 2022
We sincerely hope that peace prevails in our region.
We will continue our efforts for diplomacy between #Russia & #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/sJu2e8XALJ
Cavusoglu's words came in light of Turkey holding talks between Kiev and Moscow in a bid to simmer down tensions as the Russian special military operation in Ukraine unfolds.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had expressed his dissatisfaction with the Antalya talks, saying that despite Moscow being in favor of all communications that helped in resolving the Ukraine crisis, there are no alternatives to the negotiations in Belarus.
Ahead of the talks, the Turkish foreign ministry on Thursday expressed hope that the meeting between Russia's Lavrov and Ukraine's Kuleba would bring peace and stability to the relations between their countries.
"The table is being laid… Hoping it will lead to peace and stability," the ministry tweeted.
Following the talks in Antalya, Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said Ukraine had voiced readiness for a high-level meeting with Russia.
"The sides are not fundamentally against a summit meeting. Kuleba even expressed readiness for this meeting," Cavusoglu told a press conference, noting that the Kuleba-Lavrov meeting was not easy, but there were no tensions between the top diplomats.
He also revealed that Ankara did not expect that all differences would be resolved after just one round of talks, but they were ready to hold talks again for the two parties to find a solution.
"We expressed our readiness to host the next contacts of the parties. But the main thing is not the place of the meeting, but the very fact of negotiations," the minister said.
The talks come in light of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, which it launched for several reasons, such as NATO's eastward expansion, the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass, and the killing of the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, in addition to Moscow wanting to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.
