Speaking With Putin, Erdogan Ensures Involvement In War Peace Efforts In Ukraine

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan/DOK PHOTO via Instagram @rterdogan

JAKARTA - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin Ankara was trying to reach a just and lasting end to the war in Ukraine.

"Negotiations between the two parties in Istanbul contribute to peace efforts," the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

During a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China, Erdogan and Putin also discussed bilateral relations, peace efforts between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Israeli attacks on Gaza, and developments in Syria, the presidential statement said.

Putin, after talking with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the issue of NATO expansion to the east must be addressed so that sustainable peace in Ukraine can be realized.

Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. Russia currently controls less than a fifth of Ukraine.

Ukraine and Western European countries described the invasion as the confiscation of imperial-style brutal soil.

Putin described the war as a weakened battle against the West, which he said had humiliated Russia after the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall by expanding NATO to the east.

On the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin, Modi held Putin's hand as they walked towards Chinese President Xi Jinping. The three of them smiled while speaking, surrounded by translators.

Speaking at the summit, Putin said the West had tried to bring Ukraine into Western orbit and then tried to persuade the former Soviet republic to join the US-led NATO military alliance.

"In order for Ukraine's continued and long-term settlement, the root cause of the crisis, which I have just mentioned and which I have mentioned repeatedly, must be eliminated," Putin said as quoted by Reuters, Monday, September 1.

"A fair balance in the security sector" must also be restored, Putin said, abbreviating from a series of Russian demands regarding NATO and Europe's security.