Ukraine & Russia close to agreeing on 4 out of 6 points, including NATO issue: Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday stated that Ukraine has agreed to comply with 4 out of 6 demands of Russia – in particular, it has agreed to renounce the NATO membership as well as give official recognition to Russian as the second official language. "I think that there is consensus regarding four key negotiation issues. The first one concerns Ukraine’s accession to NATO,” Erdogan told reporters in Brussels. “At first Ukraine insisted on NATO membership, but eventually Zelenskyy began talking about the possibility of not joining NATO,” he said. 

Furthermore, the Turkish leader emphasized that Ukraine leader Zelenskyy agreed to recognize the Russian language as the second official language. “Zelenskyy agreed to this. Russian is already spoken across the majority of Ukraine. There are no problems in this regard,” said Erdogan. He further added that Ukraine was ready to make concessions with respect to Moscow’s third and the key demand of the “demilitarisation.” 

Ankara’s leader then continued that there would not be complete disarmament of Ukraine as it would be a matter of security. He went on to add that Ukraine has been refusing to comply with Russia’s fifth and sixth demands. Zelesnkyy, said Erdogan, has refused recognition of the Russian occupation of Crimea and of the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Ukrainian leader, however, is ready for a referendum for the independence of Donbas. The Turkish government representatives, including President Erdogan and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey have been brokering the talks between Russia and Ukraine. 

Turkey mediating peace negotiations asks NATO to focus on ceasefire, not sanctions

Erdogan, who earlier took a sweeping measure of closing the ket straits in the Black Sea to limit the transit of Russian warships and flaring the conflict, has been mediating the peace negotiations between the two warring nations. Erdogan’s adviser Ibrahim Kalin has been conveying Russia’s demands to Zelesnkyy as Putin himself has refused the offer to have an in-person meeting with the Ukrainian leader. Although, Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said that after talks between Putin and Erdogan Russia was not against Zelenskyy having personal talks with Putin. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meanwhile added that this week's meeting between NATO leaders should be focused on securing a cease-fire and stopping the war as opposed to more sanctions and deterrence. "Everyone's first aim should be a cease-fire", Cavusoglu told Turkish journalists.