With no hope of a global peace deal and while Tehran believes neither Russia nor Ukraine are “able to win militarily,” Turkey is calling for “local de-escalation.”
Turkey wants to encourage “local ceasefires” in Ukraine because it does not hope for a broader peace deal at this point, Ibrahim Kalin, a close adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Saturday.
“No one wants to end the fight”
Neither Russia nor Ukraine “are capable of winning militarily,” he also assessed, saying he was convinced “that in the end they need to negotiate to get a mutually acceptable result.”
“Right now nobody wants to end the fight, but we have to keep calling them there,” said the adviser.
“If we cannot reach a comprehensive peace agreement, we will seek localized, limited ceasefires and local de-escalation,” he said.
“The Greatest International Challenge Since World War II”
Since the conflict began on February 24, Turkey – which has good relations with the two capitals – has offered its mediation to end the war, “the worst international challenge since World War II,” Ibrahim Kalin stressed to journalists from several countries Media.
“We’ve already had some success,” he said, citing the deal signed last summer on Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea and Bosphorus (nearly 18 million tons exported so far) and facilitating the exchange of prisoners of war.
“But it’s not enough (…), just a small piece of a much bigger puzzle”.
Turkey wants “security guarantees” for Moscow and Kyiv
For him, a peace agreement must be “further” than the Russia-Ukraine duo alone and offer “security guarantees for both sides”.
“Russia wants to be respected as a key player and to receive security guarantees, particularly that NATO will not invade its backyard.”
And “Ukraine will not join NATO, but will also receive security guarantees at its borders,” said Ibrahim Kalin.