Erdoğan backs Ukraine’s NATO bid, says Putin will visit Turkey ‘next month’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said early on Saturday that his Russian counterpart would visit Turkey next month and stressed Ankara’s enthusiasm for (and potential to lead) the restoration of peace talks.

He made the remarks during a visit to Istanbul by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he greeted as his “dear friend.”

After two-and-a-half hours of talks at the Vahdettin mansion in Istanbul, Erdoğan also backed Kyiv’s membership of NATO and offered a robust defense of Ukraine’s independence, declaring Russia’s invasion to have contravened international law.

Noting Turkey had made the “most effort” of any country in previous attempts at diplomacy between the warring parties and stressing Ankara’s role in a deal to allow Ukraine to keep exporting grain out of the Black Sea during the war, Erdoğan said Turkey had the “most sincere desire” to see the parties return to the negotiating table.

Zelenskyy also observed that “Turkey is ready to assume a leadership role” in Kyiv’s peace plan.

Both Erdoğan and Zelenskyy hoped that the grain export deal would soon be extended, and the Turkish leader said it would make sense to start renewing it for longer timeframes than every two months.