Current and future agreements between Turkey and Ukraine are not directed against Russia and have nothing to do with the crisis between Moscow and Kiev. That was the assertion made by Fahrettin Altun, head of the Turkish presidential administration's public relations office, in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Ukraine.
"Our relations with Russia are not limited to [deliveries of anti-aircraft missile systems] S-400, nor are our relations with Ukraine limited to the sale of unmanned aerial vehicles [Bayraktar]. Turkey is strengthening good-neighborly relations with both countries in all fields, especially economic and social. This process will continue in the forthcoming period," Altun said when asked by a journalist how Ankara feels about Russia's "concerns about defense cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine", - "We are not implementing agreements that would target another country. Russia is one of the countries that knows this best. The agreements that we have made and will continue to make with Ukraine are not directly related to this crisis [between Russia and Ukraine]."
The Turkish official also recalled the republic's readiness to mediate in the Ukrainian-Russian crisis in any way possible, "including mediation, facilitation and negotiations". Altun, however, could not say when Russian leader Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Turkey. According to him, Ankara will "receive Russian President Putin in the near future during the next meeting of the High-Level Cooperation Council."
In addition, when asked how Turkey will act if Russia takes military steps against Ukraine, Altun said that "Turkey will contribute to both the formation and implementation of the common policy." "We are members of NATO and one of the most active participants in international security decision-making mechanisms," he explained, - "Of course, we will not forget the other international agreements which we are party to".
In recent years, Turkey has established UAV production not only to meet the needs of its armed forces but also for export. There are currently six countries that operate the TB2 Bayraktar UAV: Azerbaijan, Qatar, Libya, Morocco, Poland and Ukraine. UAVs of this type were used in combat operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria and Libya.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Turkey supplied Ukraine with Bayraktar UAVs, which were later used in Donbass, which is prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Concerns about the reports of their use by the Ukrainian armed forces were expressed by the foreign ministries of Germany and France.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS