In Istanbul, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Head of State thanked Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Türkiye’s readiness to continue supporting efforts to bring about real peace and security.
“Ukraine is grateful to Türkiye for all its support and for the fact that our security and economic cooperation continues to grow, even in a challenging situation,” the President of Ukraine said.
The leaders discussed preparations for a trilateral meeting involving Ukraine, the United States, and Russia in the first half of November.
According to the President of Ukraine, strong decisions are needed to achieve peace, and Russia must be sent signals at every level that there is no alternative to peace and that support for Ukraine will not decrease.
“A humanitarian operation took place in Oleshky, in the Kherson region, over the past few days. I thank President Erdoğan for his words of support. And this operation clearly demonstrates that de-escalation steps are possible when Russia is the one put in a position where it has to take these steps,” the Head of State noted.
The leaders also discussed in detail all issues related to security in the Black Sea.
“Since 2014, Russia has been making the situation in the Black Sea more difficult and worse, step by step, through its aggression. Türkiye consistently supports our sovereignty, our territorial integrity, and our efforts to ensure safe shipping in the Black Sea and restore normal living conditions across the Black Sea region,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The leaders also discussed new ideas and proposals that can help, particularly on food security.
“Today, President Erdoğan and I agreed to work on a Black Sea grain corridor – to ensure that the corridor exists and operates effectively,” the Head of State said.
A separate focus was on bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Türkiye.
“We are preparing joint industrial and other economic projects,” Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized.
The President said that the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Türkiye, which has entered into force, opens up new opportunities for businesses in both countries. According to Volodymyr Zelensky, progress in ensuring freedom of navigation will help the full implementation of the free trade agreement.
“The entry into force on October 1 of the free trade agreement signed by our countries in 2022 was an important step for our bilateral economic and trade relations,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan emphasized.
They also discussed the significant potential for cooperation in energy and infrastructure. There are projects that can strengthen both Ukraine and Türkiye, especially now that the Russians have stepped up their attacks on energy infrastructure in all our cities and villages.
“We have already met today with representatives of Turkish energy companies, and we expect support supplies of generators and other energy equipment to increase as early as next week,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
A meeting between business representatives from both countries also took place in Istanbul.
“I’m very grateful for organizing this kind of platform for dialogue among all our partners and colleagues. We very much want all these discussions to lead to concrete action. That depends on our government teams, and I expect that what has been agreed at the presidential level will be implemented promptly,” the President said.
The President of Türkiye added that Turkish companies that have remained in Ukraine despite the war will make a significant contribution to the country’s postwar reconstruction.
