Turkish MFA speaks about difficult decisions regarding Ukraine's territories
Photo: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (Getty Images)
Türkiye is ready to play any role to promote peace in Ukraine and contribute to the country's reconstruction. However, Ankara does not rule out making "bitter choices" regarding territories, states Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in a comment to TRT World.
"Türkiye is willing to and ready to play any role to contribute to peace in Ukraine and to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine. But first of all, we need to have a ceasefire and have a workable and long-term peace plan," Fidan said.
According to him, work on a peace plan is currently underway.
"The American administration and Europeans, and us, all of us are working on different aspects of this possible ceasefire and peace plan… But, combining the short-term immediate need for a ceasefire with long-term strategic concerns is a very essential task. That is exactly what we are working on at the moment," Fidan noted.
At the same time, Fidan believes that Ukraine will have to make "bitter choices" regarding its territories.
"In an ideal world, we would like to see the territorial integrity of Ukraine preserved. But this is the time of war, and unfortunately, as a result of this war, we have to do some choices, some bitter choices. This is what they are trying to decide now — what they can take, what they can leave out, what they can delay. I think those are some priority areas that they are now focusing very much: the Americans, the Europeans, us, the Russians, and the Ukrainians," Fidan said.
According to him, all sides are focused on their own priorities and have different goals and concerns.
It was announced today that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Türkiye tomorrow, February 18. He is scheduled to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
