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Türkiye: Russia-Ukraine confidence building going well

Finding a negotiated solution was easier in the initial weeks of the Ukraine conflict compared to today, says Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

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Cavusoglu also confirmed that there have been "backchannels" between the presidents of the two countries "since the beginning" in addition to negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegates.

Confidence-building measures between Russia and Ukraine, like exchanging war prisoners, are "going well," Türkiye's foreign minister has said.

"We have also been mediating to that end," Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday at a panel during the 17th Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

Questioning also how countries would adapt to the new realities, Cavusoglu said a "negotiated solution" to the war was "much easier to reach in the initial weeks" of the conflict.

"After the disturbing images we saw from Irpin and Bucha, things have changed. But now, there are new realities on the ground. Unfortunately, some cities, other than the Donbass region of Ukraine, have fallen. We are talking about peace, but it has to be a mutually accepted one. But it has to be, at the same time, a fair peace for Ukraine ... the territorial integrity of Ukraine has to be essential," he added.

Emphasising that such new realities would "definitely" be reflected in further negotiations," Cavusoglu said that the sides' positions on the status of annexed Crimea and Donbass have also changed.

Dialogue with Russia and Ukraine

The Turkish minister continued by affirming that Ankara is engaged in separate and ongoing dialogues with both Kiev and Moscow, adding that his country has "good relations, of course, with both Russia and Ukraine."

"Meanwhile, of course, we have a principled stance and we are supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity."

"We are providing support, maybe more than many other NATO allies, to Ukraine. And at the same time, we are also in dialogue with Russia, and that dialogue has been bearing fruits," Cavusoglu said, adding that such dialogue was the reason why July's historic Türkiye-brokered deal that secured Ukrainian grain exports had worked.

Ankara also played a role in talks between Russian nuclear power company, Rosatom, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"I hope it will pave the wave to reach a ceasefire, truce, and lasting peace," he added.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies