Zelensky’s visit to Turkey and Erdogan’s cautious support for Ukraine joining NATO

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Istanbul is the most important event. There is news yesterday and today in the Turkish media.

Zelensky met Erdogan in Istanbul’s Delma Baghche Palace and said about the importance of Ankara-Kiev relations in the presence of reporters: “To President Erdogan and the people of Turkey for their support I appreciate and thank you for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, for all our people and Ukrainian children. I once again thanked Mr. President especially for rescuing our citizens from Russian captivity. Thanks to Turkey’s mediation, we achieved serious humanitarian results and we look forward to future actions.” It has recognized and expressed the title of a part of the territory of our country and has always defended the Crimean Tatars. Today, he reiterated his approach. Therefore, I am grateful to him for never changing his position on the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Erdogan’s cautious tone on Ukraine

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while expressing his happiness for hosting Zelensky again, announced: “In recent days, there was a missile attack on the areas where Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Mitotakis were present. I express my happiness that no problem happened to them. I also offer my condolences to the Ukrainian citizens who lost their loved ones as a result of the two-year war. In our meetings today with my esteemed friend, we discussed the details of the developments of the war. As a friend, I expressed my opinion and findings to him with all honesty. The negative consequences of the war on the region and the world, especially on Ukraine, are increasing.” Erdoğan further added: “From the beginning, we have cooperated as much as we could to end the war based on the agreement. Peace talks that include Russia are very valuable and we are ready to host this meeting. During our consultations, we also discussed issues related to the stability of the Black Sea, such as export corridors and safety of navigation. You know, the Black Sea project prevented the global food crisis by exporting 33 million tons of grain to needy countries. We are ready to offer our best support as before. The economic stability of Ukraine and the establishment of permanent security in the coming period are very important.” Erdogan said about Crimea: “The presence of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine is one of the important elements of strengthening the friendship between the two countries, and the Crimean Tatars, who are an inseparable part are Ukraine, they are fighting hard to restore the territorial integrity of this country. While thanking the efforts of the President of Ukraine in guaranteeing the rights of his compatriots and strengthening their autonomy, we will always support the Crimean Tatar compatriots”.

In a meeting with Zelenskiy, Erdogan, in a diplomatic and considerate tone, spoke of Ukraine joining NATO supported and said: “Our support for Ukraine’s joining the Euro-Atlantic institutions still stands”. The Eurasian countries cooperated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in March 1992, and despite the declaration of neutrality, it began right after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Turkmenistan, like other countries of the Soviet Union, The former joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. Safar Murad Turkmenbashi, the first president of independent Turkmenistan, participated in the European Security and Cooperation Conference in Helsinki in July 1992, and Turkmenistan became the first Central Asian country in May 1994. It joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. Berdimuhamedov also took measures to restore Turkmenistan’s relations with the outside world, including the NATO Treaty, and visited the NATO headquarters in Brussels in November 2007, and in April 2008 attended the NATO summit in Bucharest.

Turkey has always been a supporter of these policies. The Cooperation Council was later renamed to the Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Council (EAPC) and Erdogan’s support for Ukraine’s presence in this council means Turkey’s considerate agreement on Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

Zelensky was in Istanbul and met with Erdoğan, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. On Wednesday, September 6, 2022, the Parliament of Ukraine voted for Rostam Umerov, the minister proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky’s government for the Ministry of Defense.

This was while Rostam Umerov was appointed as the new Minister of Defense. Ukraine was introduced, he headed the state real estate fund of Ukraine. 43-year-old Umarov, who is one of the important figures of the Crimean Tatar community, has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in finance since 2020. He was a member of the Ukrainian special group whose mission was to work on plans to end Russia’s occupation of Crimea. He is an experienced negotiator and in addition to managing Ukraine-EU negotiations, he was a member of the delegation accompanying the President of Ukraine to Saudi Arabia in May.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine belongs to a Tatar Turk In addition to selling several armed drones to Kiev, the Baykar UAV factory belonging to Seljuk, the son-in-law of Erdoğan, has also sent 2 UAVs as a donation to this country and announced that it will establish a joint UAV manufacturing workshop in one of the defense areas of Ukraine. But Moscow has announced that the bombing of such a workshop will be a legitimate goal for the Russian Air Force.

Erdogan announced that the parties hope to achieve the target of 10 billion dollars in trade between Turkey and Ukraine in the near future.

Effective immediately. According to the President of Turkey, the free trade agreement will give a new impetus to these relations. In his meeting with Zelenskiy, Erdogan also demanded that the biggest role in the reconstruction of Ukraine be given to Turkish companies. In response to journalists’ questions about Turkey’s peace talks and mediation, Erdogan said: “We believe that Russia Whether he likes it or not, he will respect Turkey’s position. Turkey defends peace and we believe that Russia will inevitably respect Turkey’s position. If this does not happen, it will not be possible to guarantee and maintain peace. At least according to the public opinion of the world, we as Turkey have done our duty. Of course, here are 3 important issues worth noting: food security, prisoner exchange and shipping guarantee. Apart from all this, Mr. President actually wants to secure the preparations for peace and ensure the security of the ports due to the closeness of the holy month of Ramadan. These are very important.

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