Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday expressed confidence that the indirect agreement between Russia and Ukraine brokered by his country to facilitate the exit of grain from Ukrainian ports as a gateway to facilitate peace negotiations between the two warring countries.
For the time being, Turkey considers it a priority to extend the agreement, which in principle is automatically renewed on November 19 if neither Moscow nor Kiev object — although Russia has already abandoned the pact a few days after denouncing a Ukrainian attack in Sevastopol — but «what happens will allow us to understand whether Turkey’s mediation efforts can bring peace closer,» according to the president.
«Turkey is striving to turn the Grain Corridor into a path of peace,» the leader reiterated during the summit of the Organization of Turkic States being held in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, in comments reported by the official Anatolia news agency.
The Turkish president explained that, in any case, any decision on the matter depends on the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom he expects to discuss these issues as soon as possible.
Finally, the President reiterated that any «threat» to the continuity of the grain agreement «represents the wrong path», not only because of the security situation but also because of the destination of the cargoes.
«President Putin’s goal is to give priority to poor countries in Africa, in particular Mali, Somalia or Sudan. The Russian leader offered to supply grain to these countries free of charge. We are ready to exhibit the same sensitivity on this issue,» according to the Turkish leader.
«It is important to define the scope of this issue. Efforts must be made to serve African countries, where food is most needed, because exporting agricultural products to Europe while Africa is ignored would be an unfair approach,» he explained.
