Türkiye’s aim is to stop bloodshed in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible despite hurdles, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, according to Anadolu Agency.

“Our goal is to continue the momentum gained despite the difficulties in the field and to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible,” Erdogan said at the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in the Kazakh capital Astana.

Erdogan added that Türkiye’s intensive efforts with the UN and the two parties to the conflict to curb the negative effects of the war have gained the appreciation of the entire world.

He said the Istanbul grain deal reached this July and the September prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine are both “tangible achievements” in this direction.

Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul on July 22 to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which paused after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February.

Later on Thursday, Erdogan is set to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss recent developments and the ongoing war.

Türkiye has been in close contact with both Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Erdogan has repeatedly stressed his wish to bring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together at a negotiating table in Türkiye to end the war.

“I say that a just peace can be achieved through diplomacy, that there will be no winners in war and no losers in a just peace,” Erdogan said.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency