Erdogan hopes to hold talks with Putin soon

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hoping to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future.

"Our president is in contact with presidents Putin and [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky," Cavusoglu said on CNN Turk television. "He’s hoping to hold talks with Putin in the near future."

The minister said he also proposed to hold a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in Turkey.

He said Turkey is ready to become a security guarantor for Ukraine but first needs to understand what that role implies.

Cavusoglu also said NATO is seeking to weaken Russia. "Some NATO countries see the continuation of the war in Ukraine as a weakening of Russia," he said. "They don’t care much about the situation in Ukraine."

The minister said Ukraine demanded security guarantees like those under Article 5 of the NATO treaty but Turkey doesn’t want to send its troops to Ukraine.

"No country accepts that," he said. "Neither does Turkey. Turkey won’t send troops to Ukraine.".