Erdogan Offers Peace Mediation to Russia, Ukraine During Kiev Visit to Finalize Drone Deal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered to mediate between Kiev and Moscow, who have been at odds since a US-backed coup in Kiev brought a right-wing Ukrainian nationalist government to power in 2014. The offer came while he was in Kiev to finalize a trade deal that includes sales of Turkish combat drones.

“I have stressed that we would be happy to host a summit meeting at a leadership level or technical level talks,” Erdogan told reporters at a Thursday presser following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev. “Instead of fueling the fire, we act with the logical aim of reducing the tensions.”

"I want to reiterate that we continue to support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, including Crimea," he added. The Russian-speaking peninsula declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 after Kiev attempted to ram through a bill that would eliminate the Russian language as a national language of Ukraine. Following the results of a referendum, Crimea then acceded to the Russian Federation. NATO powers like Turkey don’t recognize the results of the referendum as democratic.

Erdogan said his government views the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ukraine Special Monitoring Mission in Donbas as important and that he “sincerely believe[s]” the Minsk Protocol can end the conflict peacefully. The Russian-speaking region split from Kiev at the same time as Crimea, but did not join Russia, and has remained in rebellion since. More than 13,000 people have died in the eight-year-long conflict, which Ukraine has accused Moscow of secretly supporting.

A Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone is seen shortly after its landing at an airport in Gecitkala, known as Lefkoniko in Greek, in Cyprus, Monday, Dec. 16, 2019

© AP Photo / DHA

More recently, NATO has accused Russia of preparing an invasion force on Ukraine’s borders, although both Moscow and Kiev have said that the troops deployed in western Russia are there legally and are not sufficient to constitute a strike group. The US has used the crisis to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles, and has prepared a rapid deployment force of 8,500 troops in case the situation escalates, although the Biden administration has said the troops won’t be sent to Ukraine itself.

On Thursday, the White House accused Moscow of planning to stage a false flag attack in Ukraine as an excuse for intervention, although it has furnished no proof to support the claim and Moscow has denied that it uses such tactics.

In a way, Erdogan’s offer is almost a reciprocation of Moscow’s hosting of peace talks on behalf of the Syrian government between Iran and Turkey in the Russian city of Sochi. Several times, interventions by Russian President Vladimir Putin possibly helped avert an all-out war in Syria between the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies on the one side, and Turkey on the other, who has intervened in large parts of northern Syria in support of Islamist terrorist rebel groups.

According to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, the two Black Sea nations signed a free trade agreement intended to help boost bilateral trade to $10 billion a year from its present volume of $7.4 billion.

Zelenskyy said that the two had signed a new defense agreement that would expand the production of Turkish drones like the Bayraktar TB2 combat drone in Ukraine, including with a new engine factory in Kiev. “These are new technologies, new workplaces, and an increase in Ukraine’s ability to defend itself,” he said.

Kiev bought several last year and has used them in strikes against separatist forces in Donbas, and the drones were used to great effect by Azerbaijan in its 2020 war with Armenia. They are also rumored to have been sold to Ethiopia and played a role in its repulsing of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) offensive in December 2021.