Çavuşoğlu and Lavrov Held Joint Press Conference

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavroy held a joint press conference.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavroy said in his speech:

“Ankara follows a pragmatic line. His approach is extremely balanced. He did not participate in the sanctions imposed on Russia. Our goal is the disarmament of Ukraine. We will continue to work to ensure that the work of both the opposition and the constitutional committee will be productive. Ukraine must be cleansed of fascist ideology.

Turkey did not participate in unilateral sanctions against Russia Russia tried to help from the beginning Ukraine is preventing the evacuation of civilians to Russia. Ukraine violates international law, the West ignores it. He ignored the experiences of civilians in the western Donbas.”

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made the following statements:

“I would like to thank Lavrov for the invitation and for the fruitful discussions we had. Today, especially after Antalya, I am happy to meet again. We have taken a clear stance. We have sincerely expressed our criticisms and ideas. From the very beginning, we have made efforts and are making efforts to achieve both a humanitarian and a lasting ceasefire. However, thousands of people lost their lives and this bloodshed must stop. There is no winner in war and loser in peace.

As a country that Russia trusts and listens to what it has to say, we openly express our views on the Ukraine crisis. Because we are friends, we are neighbors, we have to openly say what we know to be true. We have not lost our faith in diplomacy. We sincerely hope that it will bring positive results.

As a matter of fact, we came together in Antalya. Every conversation is beneficial to meet on common ground. I also had many meetings with both Lavrov and Kuleba. He certainly made valuable efforts in other countries. Of course, the aim of all of us is that the war should stop and no one should die. For this purpose, I came to Moscow today. We carried out a serious evacuation operation. We brought more than 15 thousand of our citizens to Turkey. We discussed all of these in a friendly atmosphere again today. On the other hand, we convey our views for a humanitarian ceasefire and then a permanent ceasefire. We would not have been able to carry out these efforts without the trust of Russia and Ukraine in this process. Our efforts to prioritize diplomacy will continue to increase.”