President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that a mechanism will be found to make Russia responsible for its actions. The Head of State called Turkey one of the partners who can help achieve this goal.
“Together, we will surely find a way to make Russia respect international law, return peace and stability in the region, protect the rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatars and liberate the political prisoners of the Kremlin,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.
“I am convinced that Ukraine and Turkey will jointly change the situation in the Black Sea region and Crimea in our favor,” the President added.
He said that the key topics in today’s talks with the President of Turkey were the threats of militarization in the occupied Crimea, human rights violations in the peninsula and the persecution of the Crimean Tatar people.
“We believe that irresponsible and unpunished demarches of Russia in the international arena must finally get a fair response. As today it is a problem for Ukraine, but tomorrow it could be a disaster for all countries in the region,” the Head of State emphasized.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that Ukraine and international partners continued to do everything possible and impossible to return peace to Donbas via diplomatic means, and the recent developments showed who really strives for the end of the war. On August 6, the enemy, despite the “Khlibne” truce, carried out a shelling killing 4 Ukrainian servicemen. At the same time, the Ukrainian party complied with the ceasefire regime.
“I think after the recent events in the east of Ukraine, nobody doubts who really wants and does everything to achieve peace,” he noted.
The President once again emphasized that Ukraine highly appreciated the relations with its strategic partner – Turkey. Our country is also grateful to President Erdoğan for his unwavering position in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“Thank you for always having the courage to call things as they are – in particular Russia’s occupation of Crimea,” the Head of State said.
The President invited the Turkish side to join the reconstruction of infrastructure in eastern Ukraine. “We look forward to the active participation of the Turkish side in the International Forum on Donbas Reconstruction, which we plan to hold in Mariupol in the autumn,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan confirmed that Turkey hadn’t recognized the illegal annexation of Crimea and would not do so. He also stressed that the protection of the rights, interests and the preservation of the national identity of Crimean Tatars, their stay at home in Crimea would remain a priority for his country.
“We want the conflict in Donbas to end as soon as possible. We believe that it will be resolved peacefully, on the basis of international law and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We support the Minsk process and the activities of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission headed by Turkish diplomats,” the Turkish President added.