Turkish president to work towards organising Putin-Zelenskyy meeting in Istanbul

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated that he will work to organise a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

Source: Erdoğan at a press conference on 25 July; Turkish news agency Anadolu; European Pravda

Details: Commenting on talks between Ukraine and Russia, Erdoğan said that he had met with the Ukrainian delegation the day before and "also had a conversation with esteemed Vladimir Putin and we asked them for support".

"In the future, possibly even this week, through holding talks with the esteemed Putin and also with the esteemed Trump, we will try to find out whether we can bring these leaders [Putin and Zelenskyy] together in Istanbul," Erdoğan said.

*Initially, the report stated that Erdoğan wanted to bring Putin and US President Donald Trump together in Istanbul, due to the ambiguity of the Turkish leader's quote. Later, Erdoğan's office issued a clarification.

Background: 

• On 23 July, a third round of peace talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place in Istanbul. The first round of talks was held in Istanbul on 16 May this year, and the second on 2 June.
• At a briefing following the talks, Oleksandr Bevz, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said that the Ukrainian side had once again proposed holding a leaders’ meeting in August.
• Ukraine had previously proposed holding a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin with the participation of Erdoğan and possibly Trump. The Turkish side supports this idea.

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