Continue President Zelensky And Putin's Determination Efforts For Peace, Turkish Foreign Minister: Victoryless War

JAKARTA - Turkey will continue its efforts to unite Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to launch diplomatic negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu said Monday.

Foreign Minister avuşoğlu is on a visit to Japan to attend the state funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"The war has no winner. To end this war, it will most likely return to the negotiating table once both sides realize this," he said, launching Daily Sabah September 26.

"There must be fair peace, especially for Ukraine. The occupied areas are Ukrainian territory," he continued underlined.

"Leaders who want the war to continue also need to be persuaded. As Turkey, we have not lost hope, we will continue our efforts. Our President (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) will continue his contacts with Putin and Zelensky. Our goal is to unite the two leaders to ensure that decisions are made at the level of leaders. The whole world pays war prices," he said.

The President emphasized last week that Turkey had expressed its commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political unity since the Crimean announcement in 2014.

Turkey, which has close ties to Russia and Ukraine, is seeking to balance relations through war, rejecting Western sanctions against Moscow while also criticizing Russia's invasion and supplying Kyiv with armed drones.

"We will continue our efforts to achieve peace and stability in the future. For example, once we return, we will call the leaders again and continue our telephone diplomacy with them," President Erdogan explained.