Putin praises Türkiye's mediation efforts on Ukraine

TIANJIN

Russian leader Vladimir Putin praised Türkiye's mediation attempts around the Ukraine war at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in China on Sept. 1.

"I'm confident that Türkiye's special role in these matters will continue to be in demand," the Russian president said during talks with Erdoğan on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the northern port city of Tianjin.

Putin added that the three rounds of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul have made some progress on the humanitarian track.

The talks have resulted in exchanges of prisoners and soldiers' bodies but failed to yield a breakthrough over Russia's three-and-a-half-year invasion.

The warring sides have radically different positions and Ukraine has accused Russia of sending low-level officials with no real decision-making power to the Istanbul talks.

Russia has called on Ukraine to effectively cede four regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, a demand Kiev has called unacceptable.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called for a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but Moscow said it was too early to do so before key issues are resolved.

Russia's full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022, has ravaged swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, killing tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

Putin said he and Erdoğan discussed several regional issues, including the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus. He added that cooperation with Türkiye in these areas is "well-established, concrete, useful and trusting."

In his address to the summit on Sept. 1, Putin sought to defend his Ukraine offensive to Moscow's allies, blaming the West for triggering the war.

"This crisis was not triggered by Russia's attack on Ukraine, but was a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West," Putin said. That is a reference to Ukraine's 2013-2014 pro-European revolution, which ousted a pro-Russian president.

Moscow responded by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and backing pro-Russian separatists in the east, triggering a civil war.

"The second reason for the crisis is the West's constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO," Putin added.

The SCO’s full members include China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, with 16 more countries, including Türkiye, affiliated as observers or "dialogue partners."

'No excuse for atrocities in Gaza'

During his speech in Tianjin, Erdoğan condemned the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories.

"In Gaza, 63,000 people were massacred. We must cup our heads in our hands and reflect," he said. "There is no excuse for not stopping an atrocity in which babies and children die of starvation."

He also urged reform of the United Nations, saying it must become a platform for “global justice” in light of the suffering of Palestinians.

On Syria, Erdoğan reiterated Türkiye’s position in favor of preserving the country’s territorial integrity and opposing any threats against it.

"Türkiye’s vision is to resolve problems with the spirit of diplomacy," he added.

 Erdoğan meets Aliyev, Pashinyan

Erdoğan arrived in China on Aug. 31 and held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that day.

He met with Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan separately on Sept. 1 at the summit.

The leaders discussed bilateral relations along with regional and global issues. During the talks, Erdoğan expressed satisfaction with the progress in the peace process between the two countries in the South Caucasus.

Aliyev and Pashinyan shook hands on Aug. 8 at a White House peace summit before signing an agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict.

The two nations were locked in conflict for nearly four decades as they fought for control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh.