Turkey on Sunday (20/3) said Russia and Ukraine were making progress in negotiations to halt the invasion and said they were close to reaching an agreement.
“Of course, it is not easy to make peace while the war is going on, where civilians are being killed, but we want to say the momentum is still gaining,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview as reported by Reuters. AFP.
“We see that the parties are close to reaching an agreement,” he said.
Cavusoglu this week visited Russia and Ukraine as Turkey, a country with strong ties to both, tries to position itself as a mediator.
Turkey hosted the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya last week.
Cavusoglu said Turkey had contacted negotiating teams from the two countries but he was reluctant to divulge details of the talks.
In an interview with the Hurriyet daily, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Russia and Ukraine discussed six points, namely Ukraine’s neutrality, disarmament and security guarantees, ‘de-nazification’, removal of barriers to the use of the Russian language in Ukraine, status of the breakaway Donbass, and the status of Crimea which Russia annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for peace, urging Russia to accept “meaningful” talks to end the invasion.
“This is the time to meet, talk, time to renew territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote in his post on social media on Saturday (19/3).
Turkey has said it is ready to host a meeting between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We work day and night for peace,” Cavusoglu said.
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