Türkiye making efforts to end Ukraine conflict through diplomacy: Erdogan

Ankara is putting "sincere efforts" to end the crisis in Ukraine and to allow the grain to be exported to Africa, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

"We make sincere efforts to ensure that grain reaches those who need it most, especially our brothers and sisters in Africa," Erdogan said on Friday at the second session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

"We are making efforts to finalise the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy as soon as possible," Erdogan added.

Türkiye will increase cooperation with the regional bloc to a higher level with joint efforts, Erdogan said, adding Ankara is working to strengthen relations with Asia in every field.

"Thanks to our status as a dialogue partner in the last decade, this place has become one of our windows to Asia," he said.

The president added that Türkiye is "the most generous country" in the world as it allocates approximately 1 percent of its national income to humanitarian aid.

Erdogan also attended a family photo shoot at the summit.

READ MORE: Turkish, Chinese presidents hold talks in Uzbekistan on SCO sidelines

Largest regional body

The summit brings together world leaders for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iran's Ebrahim Raisi, Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev, presidents of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia, and the prime ministers of Pakistan and India.

Türkiye is participating at the presidential level for the first time after Ankara was granted SCO dialogue partner status in 2012.

Aside from Azerbaijan, the grouping's dialogue partners include Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Armenia.

The eight-member organisation, founded on June 15, 2001, aims to strengthen friendly, good neighbourly relations and mutual trust among member states.

Following the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Samarkand, the regional grouping would accept Iran as its next permanent member early next year.

The Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance was founded by China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in 2001 and is recognised as the world's largest regional organisation, with eight members and four observer states. 

Pakistan and India became full members in 2017.

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