Turkey wants Ukraine’s independence recognised and is working hard to create peace, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Sunday at a party conference in Antalya.

While Turkey has strong ties to both Ukraine and Russia, he claims that the conflict between Turkey’s two largest neighbours is harming the country as well as the rest of the world.

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“We strongly objected to the annexation of Crimea in 2014. If the world had given the proper response to Crimea annexation, then we wouldn’t be in this situation today” Çavuşoğlu added. 

He believes both parties are on the verge of reaching a deal in key areas. Ukraine’s independence is one of the requirements that Turkey wants to be assured. Turkey, along with the United Nations Security Council and Germany, wants to be guarantors of Ukraine’s independence.

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The presidential spokesperson, Ibrahim Kalin, released updates on his Twitter page stating that Turkey is continuing its efforts to stop the conflict in Ukraine. Snippets of his interview with Al Jazeera were used to create this update, “The humanitarian toll is becoming heavier by the day. There will be no winners in this war. A peace deal is not impossible.” 

Kalin added, “The most difficult conditions to agree are Russia’s demand of recognition of Crimea annexation under Russia and also recognition of so-called independence of two republics in Donbas region. They are main issues and I think they are most difficult to reach an agreement on, Kalin added. The other four topics in discussion are Ukraine’s neutrality, disarmament and security guarantees for Ukraine, and work so-called de-Nazification”. 

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Both officials highlighted that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in constant communication with both Russian and Ukrainian leaders in order to bring the war to an end.

Last week, Turkey hosted an international gathering that included the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Russia.