Talks with Ukrainian, Russian counterparts continue 'positively': Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that the phone talks with Ukrainian and Russian counterparts were going in 'positive direction'.

He added that Turkish side is also expected to meet delegations ahead of the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations which are set to start in Istanbul on Tuesday.

"I can express that the phone calls we've maintained with Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelenskyy are heading in a favorable direction," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at the press conference after a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex.

Before a fresh round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia set to take place in Istanbul on Tuesday, Turkish officials will sit down with both sides for a "short meeting," Erdoğan said in the capital Ankara.

"Today, we are the country that makes the most effort towards peace, and the only country in which both sides trust its fairness, sincerity, and friendship," he said.

"The world is bigger than five," Erdoğan said, emphasizing his signature statement, and added that Turkey also expressed its objections "to the global governance and justice system before the United Nations Security Council."

"While we were expressing our stance against oppression, occupation, and tyranny by saying 'one minute' (in the 2009 World Economic Forum) in Davos, our concern was peace, tranquility, and respect for human life," he continued.

Turkey has not deviated from the same line despite all the pain it has suffered, the injustice it has been subjected to and the price it has paid in its nearly 40-year history of the fight against terrorism, Erdoğan stressed.

"We have carried out our cross-border political, diplomatic, and security struggle in this entire region from the Balkans to the Caucasus, from Syria to Libya, with this understanding," he added.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which started on Feb. 24, has met international outrage with the EU, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,151 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,842 injured, according to estimates by the UN, which cautioned that the true figure is likely far higher.

More than 3.87 million Ukrainians have also fled to several European countries, with millions more displaced inside the country, according to the UN refugee agency.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine will come together in Istanbul on Tuesday as the Russian war on Ukraine has continued for over a month.

The two-day peace talks, to be held at the presidential Dolmabahçe office, are set to start at 10.30 a.m. local time (0730GMT).

Several rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine have been held in Belarus so far, and the last talks were in a video conference format on March 14, with no concrete results achieved yet.

On March 10, Turkey made headlines worldwide for hosting the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in the southern city of Antalya, the highest-level meeting of the two sides since the war began on Feb. 24.

Although the sides failed to reach an agreement on a cease-fire, they agreed to continue negotiations over the conflict.