ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned that he trusts Russia as a lot he trusts the West.
Explaining his latest assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan mentioned he had did not get him to renew the Black Sea grain deal the Kremlin withdrew from in July however had elicited a pledge for Russia to produce 1 million tons of grain to Africa.
“I’ve no cause to not belief them,” Erdogan mentioned throughout an interview late Monday with U.S. broadcaster PBS in New York, the place he’s attending the U.N. Normal Meeting.
“To the extent the West is dependable, Russia is equally dependable. For the final 50 years, we’ve got been ready on the doorstep of the EU and, at this second in time, I belief Russia simply as a lot as I belief the West.”
Ankara has maintained shut ties with each Russia and Ukraine in the course of the 19-month struggle. In July final 12 months, Turkey and the U.N. engineered a deal to allow Ukrainian grain to be safely shipped from its Black Sea ports, serving to alleviate a world meals disaster.
Moscow pulled out of the agreement two months in the past, claiming a parallel deal to permit its exports of foodstuffs and fertilizer had not been honored.
Erdogan is visiting New York 4 months after successful elections that prolonged his 20-year rule for one more 5 years. His recent mandate has seen indicators of an enchancment in Ankara’s usually fractious relationship with the West.
Talking at an occasion on Monday, the Turkish chief appeared to roll again comments he made immediately prior to his departure for New York, during which he steered Turkey might finish its 24-year bid for European Union membership.
“We see {that a} window of alternative has opened for the revitalization of Turkey-European Union relations in a essential interval,” Erdogan mentioned, in line with a textual content of the assembly revealed by his workplace.
“We proceed to emphasise the significance of revitalizing Turkey’s EU accession course of.”
Erdogan additionally indicated enhancing ties with Washington, which have not too long ago centered on Ankara’s approval of Sweden’s NATO membership software and a doable deal to produce Turkey with F-16 fighter jets.
“We’re happy with the event of our cooperation with the U.S.,” Erdogan mentioned. “We’ve got resolved a lot of the deadlocks in the course of the talks with Mr. Biden and we’ve got determined to carry extra talks in keeping with the optimistic agenda.”
Turkey and Hungary are the one NATO members to not have authorized Sweden’s bid to hitch the protection alliance, which Stockholm made following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The difficulty is because of be debated by the Turkish parliament when it returns from recess subsequent month.
Some members of the U.S. Congress have indicated the availability of F-16s to replace Turkey’s fighter fleet depends on Ankara agreeing to Sweden’s NATO membership.
However Erdogan reiterated that “these two subjects shouldn’t be associated” though he mentioned the choice on Sweden lies with the Turkish parliament, the place his occasion and its allies maintain a majority.
“If the parliament doesn’t make a optimistic resolution about this bid, then there’s nothing to do,” he advised PBS.
Erdogan additionally drew a line between Sweden’s NATO bid and Turkey’s EU accession. In July, nonetheless, he known as on EU member states to “open the best way for Turkey” in return for Sweden’s path to NATO to be cleared.
He advised PBS on Monday that “Sweden’s place and our present place throughout the EU accession negotiations are two separate issues.”
Turning to the struggle in Ukraine and his contacts with Putin, Erdogan mentioned it was “fairly apparent that this struggle goes to final a very long time” however that the Russian chief was “on the aspect of ending this struggle as quickly as doable.
“That’s what he mentioned. And I consider his remarks,” Erdogan mentioned.