President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he would like to host a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump in Istanbul or Ankara, as he expressed his desire to make Istanbul the center of peace diplomacy.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan hailed the recent talks between Russia and Ukraine.
"My greatest wish for both sides is to bring (Russia’s) President Vladimir Putin and (Ukraine’s Volodymyr) Zelenskyy together in Istanbul or Ankara — and even to bring (U.S. President) Mr. (Donald) Trump to their side, if they agree,” he said, adding that Türkiye would "take steps” to facilitate such a meeting.
He added that he would also join the leaders in the meeting, so that "we can turn Istanbul into a center for peace."
"Istanbul’s role in the Russia-Ukraine talks has been of critical importance. It became a turning point,” Erdoğan said, adding: "Despite yesterday’s incident, the fact that the meeting still took place is in itself a major success.”
The president emphasized that Türkiye continues to play a central role in peace diplomacy, facilitating meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations on its soil. "We are making sincere efforts for a peace in which both sides win. Türkiye’s stance has been clear from the beginning—we do not want war. We do not want to see conflict and oppression in our region.”
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a new prisoner exchange in Istanbul talks on Monday.
The talks were intended to discuss ways out of Russia's three-year war against Ukraine, but the two sides were apparently far apart going into the negotiations.
Kyiv had demanded an unconditional cease-fire as a first step; Moscow had a cease-fire on conditions that included Western states refraining from supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Ukrainian delegates handed over to Russian negotiators a list of children Kyiv wants Moscow to return to Ukraine, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said after the meeting.
Resuming ties with Syria
Turning to developments in Syria, President Erdoğan welcomed recent moves by European countries to lift sanctions on Damascus following what he described as "historic” remarks by U.S. President Trump.
He announced that Syria’s national carrier will soon resume flights to Türkiye, and Türkiye’s AJet airline will begin regular flights to Syria. "As Syria returns to stability and peace, we believe that all its neighbors and countries in the region will benefit,” Erdoğan said.
Fighting global ideological pressure, supporting pensioners
President Erdoğan also reiterated Türkiye’s firm stance against what he called "gender-neutrality ideologies," describing them as a form of global imposition. "Our fight against de-genderization policies, which have turned into a form of global bullying, will continue resolutely,” he said.