Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a video message to the Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit. Erdoğan underlined, "I maintain my view that diplomacy and dialogue should be given a chance to end the war with a fair and lasting peace."
In his video message to the Ukraine-Southeast Europe Summit, President Erdoğan stressed that he could not attend the summit due to preparations for local elections.
Expressing his great satisfaction in addressing the participants through the video message, Erdoğan made the following remarks: "It is well known that Türkiye supports the independence, sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We also make every effort to protect the rights and interests of our Crimean Tatar brethren. We are also ready to contribute to the rapid recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine. Despite entering the third year of the war and all our efforts, not enough progress has been made towards establishing peace. I maintain my view that diplomacy and dialogue should be given a chance to end the war with a fair and lasting peace. It is of great importance to make the utmost use of all diplomatic channels to achieve this goal. I am of the opinion that a joint effort should be started at least to determine the general parameters of peace. In this regard, we principially support Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky's 10-point peace plan."
Erdoğan also recalled that they assumed a leadership role in the efforts to be carried out under the title of food security within the plan.
Emphasizing the belief that bringing both sides together is essential for the success of peace initiatives, Erdoğan pointed out, "The Black Sea Initiative, established and critically involved during the period it was implemented by our efforts, remains on our agenda. Additionally, there is a need for a regulation to ensure navigation safety for commercial vessels in the Black Sea. In this context, we continue our contacts with the United Nations (UN) to establish a new regulation including security commitments in the Black Sea. Furthermore, we are ready to re-establish the negotiation table we previously set up in Istanbul for the construction of peace. On this occasion, I wish for the spirit of solidarity that has come to life through the cooperation process of the Balkans, our common geography, to spread to our neighboring regions as well."
Erdoğan sincerely congratulated those involved in organizing the summit, especially Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who hosted the summit.
