Erdogan says Trump will join talks in Turkey if Putin is present
United States President Donald Trump has confirmed that he will come to Turkey for talks on the settlement of Russia's war against Ukraine if Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is present. This was stated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Reuters.
The Turkish president made the statement on his return flight from the NATO summit in The Hague, where he met with Trump for the first time since returning to the White House. Erdogan said he told the US president that Ankara is seeking to bring Russian and Ukrainian leaders together in Turkey for peace talks.
"He [Trump] said: "If Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara to solve the problem, I will also come," Erdogan's office quoted him as saying to reporters.
The Turkish president added that Ankara will make the necessary contacts to make the meeting take place "as soon as possible".
- At a press conference in the Kremlin on the night of May 11, Putin offered Ukraine to resume direct talks in Istanbul on May 15 without preconditions.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow must first agree to a ceasefire starting May 12, and then Kyiv is ready to meet. The same position was again supported by European leaders and eventually by Turkish President.
- Later, Zelenskyy said that he was ready to meet Putin in Istanbul and would wait for him there. However, the Russian dictator sent a low-level delegation instead.
- Then Trump declared his readiness to meet with Putin in Turkey. Later he said that the Russian dictator did not come to the talks in Istanbul because he would not be there.