Turkish foreign minister, US counterpart discuss NATO, Ukraine over phone

Türkiye's foreign minister Hakan Fidan and the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken have discussed NATO-related matters and international issues in a phone call.

NATO's enlargement process and the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war were on the agenda of the call between the two officials on Saturday, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

They also discussed NATO's upcoming leaders summit and the United Nations' cross-border aid efforts to Syria, added the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

Earlier on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Kiev deserved NATO membership to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy. However, he also encouraged Ukraine to engage in peace negotiations with Moscow.

"There is no doubt that Ukraine deserves membership of NATO," Erdogan told a joint media appearance with the Ukrainian president in Istanbul, adding that "both sides should go back to peace talks".

"In the war that we will wake up to on the 500th day, the Ukrainian people are defending the territorial integrity and independence of their country. From the moment the danger of conflict began to emerge, we made every effort to prevent war," said Erdogan.

Türkiye has made the "most intense efforts to end" the Russia-Ukraine war through talks "on the basis of international law," he added.

Erdogan also said that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would visit Türkiye in August, adding that he had discussed prisoner swaps with the Russian leader.