The Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, swiftly responded to recent events surrounding the Ukraine-Russia conflict and held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin
According to reports from Russian news agencies, including TASS, during this conversation, the President of Turkey expressed Ankara's readiness to take on the role of mediator in seeking ways to resolve the protracted war in Ukraine and stated their openness to organizing new negotiation processes. Sources, including Russian ones, indicate that during the discussion, Erdoğan welcomed Putin’s recent statements regarding the resumption of political dialogues and the intention to hold negotiations in Istanbul. This points to Turkey’s growing desire to intensify diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Erdoğan also emphasized the importance of creating a two-tiered framework for peace, particularly the necessity of implementing a comprehensive ceasefire. He stated that such a decision would be a crucial step toward restoring stability, re-establishing peace, and returning the Ukrainian people to peaceful life. In expressing his viewpoint, the Turkish leader highlighted that a swift cessation of hostilities would lay the necessary groundwork for new negotiations and open the way to a long-term political settlement of the conflict. Against the backdrop of global tension and ongoing diplomatic efforts by the international community, Erdoğan’s words serve as a signal of seeking new formats and future opportunities for achieving peace in Ukrainian territory. His initiatives are gaining attention from both global diplomacy and domestic political circles in Russia and Ukraine, as Turkey’s role in this conflict continues to strengthen. Overall, this phone call is another indication that diplomatic efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine are currently in an active search for compromises and new negotiation formats. The leaders of the two countries have opened the door for discussions in their pursuit of finding a path to peace, which would be a significant step toward overcoming the conflict and creating conditions for stabilizing the situation in Eastern Europe.