Foreign media reported that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkiye (Turkey) stressed to President Vladimir Putin on the 24th (local time) that he would contribute to peace efforts while emphasizing “just peace.”
President Erdogan spoke on the phone with President Putin on the same day, one year after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and called for a “just peace” in Ukraine, the Turkiye presidential office said.
“President Erdogan stressed the need to achieve a just peace to prevent further loss of life and destruction,” the office said in a statement.
“President Erdogan sincerely hopes to resume the (grain) trade concluded in Istanbul and stressed that Turkey is ready to provide all kinds of assistance in this regard,” he added.
The TASS news agency also reported that President Putin had spoken with President Erdogan, “exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine and paid special attention to the implementation of the Istanbul Agreement on (Ukraine) grain exports and exports of agricultural products and fertilizers to Russia.”
“The heads of the two countries emphasized the need to ensure that barriers to export from Russia to the poorest countries are removed,” he added.
The Istanbul Agreement is an agreement to resume grain exports that have been suspended since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was signed in the form of a tripartite agreement between Russia and Ukraine, respectively, with the United Nations and Turkey. It was agreed upon on July 22 last year for 120 days, and was automatically extended for another 120 days on November 17 of the same year, which was about to expire.
The Kremlin also said it had discussed energy supply and the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey.
Russia supplies gas to Turkiye through the Turkstream gas pipeline. President Putin proposed the establishment of a gas hub in Turkiye due to the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany in October of last year. Turkiye welcomed the idea and agreed to create a hub and gas trading center in Istanbul.
Akuyu Nuclear Power Plant is the first nuclear power plant in Turkey. It is under construction in accordance with an agreement between Russia and the Turkiye government in May 2010. The nuclear power plant is expected to meet 10% of Turkiye’s electricity demand. Unit 1 is expected to be completed this year.
In addition, the two sides added that President Erdogan expressed his gratitude for Russia’s support for the earthquake that struck southern Turkey on the 6th.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.