Erdogan: Putin’s message on the grain corridor

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin today in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi.

The meeting in the Russian Sanatorium lasted about 3 hours.

The meeting continued with a face-to-face dinner after a meeting between the delegations of approximately one and a half hours.

NEW CONDITION OF AGREEMENT

After the meeting, the two leaders appeared before the cameras and made joint statements.

Stating that the grain corridor was discussed at the meeting, Putin claimed that the cancellation of the agreement did not affect the world food market much. “We are ready to revive the grain deal,” Putin said. It is necessary to lift the sanctions against Russia in order to reach a new agreement. I have clearly told Mr. Erdogan,” he said.

the west made us

To reduce the impact of the Ukraine-Russia war on world food prices, the UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed the Black Sea Grain Corridor Agreement at a ceremony in Istanbul on July 22, 2022. On July 17, 2023, Russia did not re-enact the agreement on the grounds that its demands were not met.

In response to a journalist’s question, Putin said of the grain corridor deal: “Our Western partners let us down. May the promises be fulfilled in a few days, we will make our own efforts to continue this grain corridor.”

WITH MY DEAR FRIEND…

In his statement, President Erdoğan noted that the grain deal brought into force by the Black Sea Initiative is a respite for poor countries, saying: “All parties know that Russia’s demands for the initiative to be resumed are well known. We have also expressed and do express the views expressed by our Russian friends on different occasions. We believe that the initiative should continue to eliminate the deficiencies. We sincerely shared our views on this issue with my dear friend during our meeting.” saying.

Erdoğan stated that he believes that he will get results from the package of proposals prepared by the United Nations, saying, “Like Turkey, we believe that we will reach a solution that meets expectations in a short time.”

Noting that they want the ongoing conflicts to end with a just and lasting peace as soon as possible, Erdoğan said: “The winner of the war cannot be the loser of peace. We organize direct negotiations between the parties. We are ready to do our part in this regard again,” he stated. Erdogan also stated that they assessed with Putin the latest developments in Syria, the South Caucasus, Libya and Africa.

‘UKRAINE NEEDS TO BE SOFT’

In the question session, Erdogan and Putin said: “We have carried out logistic studies to send 1 million tons of grain to poor countries.” We said: ‘Whatever duties fall on us, we exist as Turkey.’ Of course, Ukraine needs to soften its attitude and take joint steps with Russia, ”he stated.

Erdoğan continued:

“In our meeting today, Mr. Putin said that we are ready to send 1 million tons of this grain to poor countries, we have done all the logistical work for this and we are ready to take this step with these logistical efforts. We said that we, like Turkey, can do what we have to do here, and we can grind these grains that will come from you in our mills and send them to poor African countries in the form of flour. We agreed on these issues. I hope that Mr. Putin will quickly meet these demands from African countries, and he specifically mentions 6 countries. That is my hope and we will be able to take these steps together”.