ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said any actions that would aggravate the war in Ukraine and possibly spread the conflict to NATO must be averted.
He said he would host Russian President Vladimir Putin after elections in the month of March.
NATO member Turkey supports territorial integrity of Ukraine. But it also enjoys strong ties with Russia and regularly speaks with both sides of the conflict. Ankara has also provided Ukraine with military and political support but opposes sanctions on Russia.
Erdogan speaking at a Ramadan gathering of foreign ambassadors in Ankara, said Turkey would continue to work to revive the Black Sea grain deal it brokered between Russia and Ukraine with the United Nations.
The Turkish President said though his country supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but any peace plans excluding Russia will not produce any positive results.
He said that Turkey is working to re-establish navigational security in the Black Sea and ensure grain trade can be done without any problem.
He strongly believed that any actions that would exacerbate wars in the region, that would spread to NATO must be averted.
French President Emmanuel Macron last month, said Western allies should not rule out possibility of deploying troops to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Istanbul last week during which Erdogan offered to host a Ukraine-Russia peace conference.
