Xinhua2022:04:27.08:10
ANKARA, April 26 (Xinhua). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday again called on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to hold a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During a phone conversation, Erdogan told Putin that “continuing the positive momentum achieved in the Istanbul talks” to achieve peace in Ukraine is in everyone’s interest, the Turkish presidential press service said in a statement.
The president reiterated his proposal to raise the level of the “Istanbul Process, which is at a very important threshold in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, to the level of leaders,” the statement said.
Stressing the importance of achieving a ceasefire, effective operation of humanitarian corridors and safe evacuations, Erdogan noted that Turkey will continue to do its best to achieve lasting peace.
The call came a day after United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres met the Turkish President in Ankara.
Guterres traveled to Moscow and will later visit Kyiv to try to negotiate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
Erdogan has kept in touch with both Putin and Zelenskyy as Turkey, which has close ties with both countries, played a mediating role in ending the conflict.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met March 10 in a resort town in Turkey’s southern province of Antalya for the first high-level talks between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine February 24.
On March 29, the Russian and Ukrainian negotiating teams also met in person in Istanbul.
Erdogan speaks of the “Istanbul process” because Ankara wants to continue the dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow with a summit of heads of state and government in this city in order to reach a final peace agreement.
Turkish authorities earlier stated that Ankara welcomes the proposal to become a guarantor country for Ukraine’s security.
(Web Editor: Rosa Liu, Zhao Jian)