Çavuşoğlu: 'There is a need for a sustainable ceasefire'

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made statements at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

In his speech, Çavuşoğlu said: “We are making efforts to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine as soon as possible. We want it to be resolved diplomatically. The countries in the region suffered from this. On February 24, we made efforts to resolve the problems through diplomacy. Our President held phone conversations with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Likewise, I held meetings with my colleagues.

Today we held this meeting in Antalya. It is also meaningful here. We followed a facilitating path in order to keep Turkey's national position confidential. We drew attention to the priority of the human dimension. We underlined that the civilians in the middle of the war should be rescued as soon as possible. This requires a sustainable ceasefire. We emphasized once again that humanitarian corridors should be kept open without encountering any obstacles.

Especially today we said that the humanitarian corridor should be opened in Mariupol. The parties stated that they would discuss this with the relevant person. A sustainable ceasefire is needed. Miracles should not be expected in a meeting, but this meeting is an important start. Especially at the level of leaders, it came to the fore.

The location of the meeting was not important, the negotiations at this level started as soon as possible. We will continue to support this process. I would like to express my gratitude to my counterparts Lavrov and Kuleba, who accepted our invitation, for their trust in us and for their participation in this meeting.

Q-How was the atmosphere at the interview?

This meeting did not take place in an easy environment. On the one hand, the war continues. Despite all the difficulties, I can say that a civil meeting took place. There was no meeting that raised the tone that caused any tension. This is the first meeting held. Of course, I did not have such an expectation in meeting all the demands. Of course, we would like this meeting to continue. We would love to host again. If they want to do it elsewhere, we respect that too.

As Turkey, we will continue our efforts. No one expected all problems to be resolved at this meeting, but it had to be done at such a start. The fact that the parties came together politically and did not oppose the next talks as leaders increased the hope that there might be meetings in the future. If the negotiations continue, a solution will be reached.”