Erdogan urges Zelensky to diplomacy under any circumstances

President of Turkey Recep Erdogan spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and reminded him of the possibility for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers it important to maintain a possibility for a diplomatic resolution of the conflict in Ukraine under any circumstances, Haberturk reports.

"The latest development in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict were discussed. Erdogan said that the vision of a diplomatic solution must be maintained under any circumstances. He stressed that he was ready to make any necessary contribution to the negotiation process,” the website said.

From the very beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, Turkey has been acting as a mediator in Russian-Ukrainian negotiations. Turkey has repeatedly offered to hold the Russia-Ukraine summit on its territory, but the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have never met since the beginning of the special operation. In addition, the process of negotiations between the delegations of the two countries has been frozen since April.

Earlier, spokespeople for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the negotiations on the Ukrainian crisis could hardly be possible.

"We continue our efforts to achieve a ceasefire and resume negotiations,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a press conference on October 14.

Zelensky believes that negotiating with Russia is impossible because its leaders "do not respect international law."

"Diplomacy is the most powerful tool when weapons don't work. There can be no diplomacy with Russia today. There can be no respect for the leadership that kills, captures, that does not respect international law,” Zelensky said, speaking on October 13 at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

In early October, Zelensky announced the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine not to conduct any negotiations with Russia as long as Putin was Russia's President. Earlier that day, Zelensky said that the Ukrainian side was ready for a dialogue with Russia — not with Putin, but "already with another president.”

Noteworthy, the Russian side expressed doubts about Ukraine's determination not to negotiate with Russia. According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, one day Zelensky will either "forget” about his decision or will be "ordered” (by the United States and Great Britain) to sit down to talk.

"He will say: "Yes!” And then he will figure it out how to explain it all not to lose face,” Lavrov said.