Turkey's position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Here is the Russian invasion of Ukraine entering its third week, and here is Turkey showing its policy since February 24, when Russia began invading Ukraine, that it will remain in harmony and coordination with the West and NATO, but it does not want to risk its deep economic relationship with the Russian Federation, and although Turkey has implemented the Montreux Convention and prevented more Russian warships from crossing into the Black Sea, but it does not intend to impose sanctions on Russia, as other countries have done, and it will make every effort to keep channels of dialogue open with Moscow in order to solve the problem of instability, and this has met Very welcome by the West.

Relations between Turkey and Ukraine began with the independence of Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukraine is a riparian state to Turkey from the Black Sea, and the Turks attached special importance to the Crimea. The Ottomans ruled most of the current Ukrainian lands for a long time, those borders that the Ottomans reached since the rule of Mehmed the Conqueror in 1470 and up to ten years, then successive sultans, and it was considered part of the land of the Sultanate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The maps include two large provinces in the center of the country such as Dnepropetrovsk and Kirovograd.The centers of coastal provinces in southern Ukraine, such as Odessa, Xerson and Nikolaev, were administratively affiliated with the city of Zaporozhye in 1780 until 1790, and in turn began to fall one after another in the Russo-Turkish war in the eighteenth century. In the period following the Russian-Turkish wars, and with an approximate calculation, we find that the Ottomans ruled those lands for more than 300 years, and despite this long period, the historical artifacts belonging to the Ottomans in Ukraine are not many, as is the case in the Balkans and the Crimean Khanate, which Crimea was ruled between 1441-1783, a Turkish Tatar state and the Crimean Khanate is one of the important heirs of the Ottoman Empire. Today, Turkey called for respecting Ukraine's territorial integrity and political unity, since the start of the operation, which Russia described as a "special military operation" and announced its rejection of the Russian attack. Turkey, which did not recognize Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, has made it clear that it will continue to work alongside international public opinion in this position it has taken. More recently, Turkey also supported the text of the resolution condemning Russia in the UN General Assembly. Ankara's position is very clear, it wants the withdrawal of Russian forces, supports Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity, and also continues to cooperate with Ukraine in the defense industries, and continues to provide SİHAs to Turkish marches. Yes, Turkey closed the strait in the face of the warring parties, but it does not agree on the issue of sanctions against Russia and the demonization of Putin. This differs with the massive isolation practiced against Russia. Rather, it wants to keep the channels of dialogue open with everyone and to create an atmosphere and an atmosphere of trust with Moscow and Kiev at the same time, and this The situation will be important for all parties (Russia, Ukraine, NATO, the United States of America and the European Union) to get out of the crisis.

In short and to sum up, we will find Russia preparing to intensify its siege on the Ukrainian cities one by one as much as possible, especially Kyiv. Despite the negotiations that took place for a partial ceasefire, no progress was made due to the proposals of “opening humanitarian corridors through Russia or Belarus.” Of the severe economic sanctions imposed on Russia, but it is not expected that Russian President Putin will stop, before seizing Kyiv, and according to Putin, the “operation” is going as planned, and it is no longer a matter of Putin’s rational or crazy assessments anymore, but rather Putin has to sell victory to the world and Russian public opinion in this war. Putin has staked his entire political life at this point. Of course, it is important to create humanitarian corridors and evacuate civilians from besieged cities. It is expected that Russian heavy bombing will increase and clashes will become within cities.