The Russian government on Wednesday roundly rejected an offer from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to mediate a ceasefire in the Ukrainian war.
According to the Kremlin, Erdogan approached Putin on Wednesday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan, telling the Russian dictator that peace in Ukraine is possible and offering to act as a mediator. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s government coldly rejected Erdogan’s offer.
WATCH — Tom Cotton: “Putin Will Only Invade Ukraine If a Democrat is President”
“No, that’s not possible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Said This is what President Erdogan proposed to Russian journalists.
President Erdogan has been trying to intervene in the Ukrainian conflict for quite some time. In March, tried To draw Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attention to peace talks hosted by Turkey during his visit to Istanbul.
“From the very beginning, we have been making all possible contributions to ending the war through negotiations and we are ready to host a peace summit in which Russia will also participate,” Erdogan told reporters, indicating his intention to propose the idea of a peace summit to Putin as well.
Zelensky rejected Erdogan’s offer much more politely than Putin did four months later, saying Ukraine was not interested in any summit with Russia until Russia agreed to a 10-point plan that included restoring all of Ukraine and withdrawing all its troops.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint media statement in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Pool photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaie/via The Associated Press)
Erdogan has cast himself as an ideal mediator because he has tried to maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine throughout the crisis. He has called Russian aggression “unacceptable” but has not condemned it as harshly as Western leaders.
President Erdogan at a cabinet meeting in February Claimed Turkey, he argued, has a stake in the conflict because it shares maritime borders with both Ukraine and Russia, and cited the 1936 Montreux Convention, which keeps warships out of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits – a measure Ukraine desperately wants to keep the Russian navy at bay.
Erdogan appears to have won some goodwill and international diplomatic credibility from both Moscow and Kiev by brokering a deal to export Ukrainian grain in July 2022. Russia Rejected Russia has demanded that the pact, which expires in July 2023, be renewed, citing lack of compliance with mutual commitments to ease Russian food and fertilizer exports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a press conference as part of the Ukraine Peace Summit in Obürgen, Switzerland, June 15, 2024. Switzerland is hosting a number of world leaders this weekend to mark the first steps towards peace in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
Russia-Turkey trade It has grown dramatically Turkey’s imports from China have been growing for the past few years but have begun to decline as Turkey comes into compliance with Western sanctions. In fact, in April, Turkish imports from China surpassed those from Russia.
Turkey has insisted on selling the highly effective Baikal combat drone to Ukraine, greatly angering Russia. This is a very good use Early days of the Russian invasion. Baikal Construction started A new drone factory will open near Kyiv in February.
Ruslan Suleymanov, a researcher at Azerbaijan’s ADA University, said: I have written Putin, increasingly frustrated by Erdogan’s efforts to join the European Union, closer ties with the United States and continued provision of the fearsome Baikal drones to Ukraine, said on Wednesday that Russia’s “always unstable relations” with Turkey were “on the brink of a new crisis.”
WATCH — Maher: Trump had a “good moment” pointing out that Russia didn’t invade under Trump but will under Biden:
Speaking at an economic forum in June, Putin scoffed at Turkey’s “cooperation with Ukraine in some areas” and advised “our friend President Erdogan” to investigate reports that Ukraine had used Turkish drones to attack a pipeline carrying Russian natural gas to Turkey.
Suleymanov suggested that Putin is not only cold to Erdogan’s attempts to force peace talks in Ukraine, but also angered by the efforts, particularly Turkey’s decision to send a delegation to a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland last month, which Moscow dismissed as a “ridiculous meeting.” Turkey did in fact sign the joint statement produced at the summit, which Putin appeared to take as an affront.
In this photo provided by the Turkish Presidency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) shakes hands during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran, Iran, on July 19, 2022. (Turkish Presidency via The Associated Press)
Putin may also be losing patience with Erdogan, as the Russian dictator sees the Turkish dictator as a lame duck and his ruling AKP party. Significantly weakened With Russia potentially nearing the end of Erdogan’s rule in Turkey following his defeat in the March elections and Turkey’s new opposition leader, Ozgur Ozer, being much more pro-Russia than his predecessor, Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, Russia may be finding it much more productive to build relations with Ozer at this point than to please President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Suleymanov suggested several actions Erdogan could take to get Putin to take him more seriously, including a major Gas Hub Project Moscow is keen: Turkey has often spoken about how much it loves the gas hub project, but Putin wants to see shovels actually hit the ground.
“While it may be premature to give up on Russian-Turkish relations, the special personal partnership between Presidents Putin and Erdogan is rapidly deteriorating,” Suleyman concluded, an analysis sure to be borne out by Putin’s caustic dismissal of Erdogan’s recent attempts at peace talks.
