President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has outlined Turkey’s priority in Ukraine, as the immediate evacuation of civilians from war-torn Mariupol, along with ending the war, informing that he will have a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, Trend reports citing Hurriyet Daily News.
Erdogan responded to the questions of reporters in Istanbul on early May 2 after his prayer on the occasion of the first day of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations.
“I believe that the solution point for the problems concerning eastern Ukraine will be Turkey, either Istanbul or Ankara,” he said on a question about the situation in Ukraine. Recalling that his chief foreign policy adviser, Ibrahim Kalın, paid a visit to Kiev to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Erdogan informed that his adviser would also see Putin’s adviser, Yuri Ushakov, in the coming days.
“It’s probable that we will hold a conversation with Mr. Putin this week. We will exert efforts in a bid to accelerate the evacuations from Mariupol and at the same time to find a solution to this problem,” Erdogan stressed.
The evacuation of the civilians constitutes an urgency, the president said, as Ankara sees that the humanitarian situation is getting worse in many places where heavy clashes between the warring parties escalate, including Mariupol and other provinces in eastern Ukraine.
“We will take all these steps, but it’s a fact that the leaders should come together. Our wish is to bring the two leaders either in Istanbul or Ankara,” he suggested.