“Ukraine and Russia are Close to Consensus on 4 out of 6 Negotiation Points,” Says Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a conversation with journalists upon returning from Brussels, where he attended the NATO summit, stated that Ukraine and Russia are close to reaching a consensus on four out of six negotiation points.

Erdogan also recalled the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, which was organized with the Turkish side's efforts in Antalya. “After the tripartite meeting in Turkey's tourism capital, Çavuşoğlu visited Moscow and Lviv. Turkey's Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar also discussed this topic once again with his counterparts,” Erdogan noted.

“The connections continue. All of this, without a doubt, has become the best example of Turkey’s capacity to act as a mediator,” he added.

Returning to the theme of the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, Erdogan pointed out the issues on which consensus exists and those where it does not. “I believe there is a consensus on four points in the negotiations. The first point concerns NATO's membership for Ukraine. Initially, Ukraine insisted on joining the alliance, but later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began to speak about the possibility of rescinding that claim. Another point concerns the acceptance of the Russian language as an official language in Ukraine. Zelensky has agreed to this. Russian is already spoken almost throughout Ukraine. There are no issues in this regard,” he added.

According to Erdogan, another important topic relates to the demilitarization of Ukraine. “Of course, Ukraine is a state, so the complete disarmament is out of the question. But there are no unclear aspects regarding this issue either. That is to say, the Ukrainian side has stated that it can make certain concessions on this matter as well. The fourth point in the negotiations concerns collective security. Ukraine has also shown a positive attitude in this regard,” Erdogan continued.

However, according to him, there is still no consensus on the issues of Crimea and Donbas.