August 28, 2023. Balkan Periscope - Hellas
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to travel to Russia soon and meet
President Vladimir Putin, which could mean progress in bringing Russia back to
the Black Sea grain deal, Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) spokesperson Ömer Çelik said Monday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit Russia soon and meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the collapsed United Nations deal that had allowed Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain, a spokesperson for Türkiye's ruling AK Party said on Monday.
The UN- and Türkiye-brokered deal lasted a year but ended last month after
Moscow quit. Ankara is seeking to persuade Russia to return to the agreement,
under which Odesa's seaports shipped tens of millions of tons of grain.
Since the grain-export deal collapsed, Russian forces have targeted Ukrainian
ports with volleys of missiles and kamikaze drones.
"President Erdoğan has so far led an intense diplomacy in order to help
prevent a global food crisis," Ömer Çelik, the AK Party spokesperson
told reporters in Ankara following the party's Central Decision-Making and
Administrative Committee meeting.
The meeting will be in Sochi, according to Çelik.
"After this visit there may be developments and new stages may be reached
regarding" the grain deal, he told reporters.
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