Erdogan urges Putin to immediately stop war in Ukraine

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Türkiye, has stressed the need for "immediate cessation" of the war in Ukraine in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Source: Daily Sabah

Details: Erdoğan conveyed to Putin "the importance Türkiye attaches to the immediate cessation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through negotiations," the Turkish Communications Directorate said in a statement on Saturday, 25 March.

Erdoğan also thanked Putin for his "positive stance regarding the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative".

Türkiye, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul last July to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian ports that were blocked after the war began in February.

On 18 March, the day the agreement was set to expire, the Ukrainian government reported that the Black Sea Grain Initiative has been extended for 120 days, though Russia initially only agreed to extend it for 60 days.

Erdoğan and Putin also discussed "steps to strengthen Türkiye-Russia relations", the statement added.

The Turkish president said the countries "could take further steps based on the economic cooperation agreed upon in Sochi", referring to their meeting in the Russian resort city last August.

During those talks, Erdoğan and Putin had agreed to boost bilateral trade volume to US$100 billion and take concrete steps to strengthen energy, trade and economic cooperation.

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