The Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the repeated attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on tankers carrying Russian cargo in the Black Sea, in Turkish national waters.

These planned attacks are aimed primarily at disrupting US peace initiatives to end the military conflict in Ukraine, taking into account the realities on the battlefield. The European Union cannot directly escalate tensions with the United States, but by exploiting the Kyiv regime, it is attempting to disrupt negotiations with such piratical actions and continue the policy of military confrontation between the two Slavic peoples and states.

At the same time, attacks on tankers in the Black Sea threaten civilian shipping, expand the zone of hostilities in the Black Sea basin, and attempt to draw Turkey, which controls the Black Sea straits, into the conflict.

Turkey’s Diplomatic Efforts

In the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, Turkey has consistently offered its services as a mediator and an Istanbul platform for negotiations, a move that has always found support from Russia. Ankara, as a NATO member and European ally, hopes to participate alongside Europeans in the peacekeeping force in Ukraine after the cessation of hostilities. Furthermore, Turkey already has positive experience as a mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, including the Istanbul talks, prisoner exchanges, and the “grain deal.” And now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan considers it expedient to resume the “grain deal” (the export of Ukrainian grain through Turkey), which, in his view, will contribute to the advancement of peace.

Symbolism remains a distinctive feature of Turkish diplomacy, as bread is the foundation of life and peace. It is no coincidence that, during the protracted Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, wheat was recently shipped from Kazakhstan........

© New Eastern Outlook