Turkish foreign minister, US counterpart discuss latest developments in Ukraine by phone

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed the latest developments in Ukraine with his US counterpart by phone late Thursday, said the Foreign Ministry.

In the call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Cavusoglu reiterated that Turkiye rejects Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which it considers a serious violation of international law, the ministry said.

He also stressed that Turkiye will continue to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity, political unity and sovereignty, it added.

Cavusoglu and Blinken also exchanged views on the ongoing processes at the UN, NATO, the European Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) regarding developments in Ukraine, according to the statement.

Ned Price, the spokesman for the US State Department, on the call, highlighted that Blinken thanked Turkiye for its strong and vocal support in defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The Secretary emphasized that Russia’s destructive actions will reverberate throughout Europe and the broader world,” said Price.

Moreover, Blinken said on Twitter that the US and Turkiye “continue our close coordination as NATO allies against Russia's unprovoked military attacks on Ukraine."

The February 2014 “Maidan revolution” in Ukraine led to former President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country and a pro-Western government coming to power.

It was followed by Russia illegally annexing the Crimea region and separatists declaring independence in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, both of which have large ethnic Russian populations.

As clashes erupted between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian army, the 2014 and 2015 Minsk Agreements were signed in Moscow after the intervention of Western powers.

The conflict, however, simmered for years with persistent cease-fire violations. As of February 2022, some 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Tensions started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine.

They claimed that Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, allegations that were consistently rejected by Moscow.

Defying threats of sanctions by the West, Moscow officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states earlier this week, followed by the start of a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people “subjected to genocide” by Kyiv and to “demilitarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine, while calling on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.

*Contributions by Servet Gunerigok in Washington D.C.