By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL- Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Ukraine three days ago to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky who welcomed Erdogan’s offer to mediate in the ongoing crisis that began with Russia amassing hundreds of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border. For his part, Erdogan made it clear that he will do whatever he can to achieve a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Turkish diplomatic sources indicated that both Russia and Ukraine are open to the Turkish mediation offer. Zelenskiy said.”I would like to thank President Erdogan for his initiative to become a mediator between Ukraine and Russia on the way to ending the war.”
In addition to discussing the crisis, the two leaders signed a series of agreements including a free trade deal that is expected to boost bilateral, annual commerce to an estimated $10 billion over five years from the current $7 billion. Zelensky also praised a deal between Ukraine and Turkey to allow Ukrainian factories to produce Turkish drones that are already deployed in Ukraine’s war against Russia-backed rebels in the eastern Donbass region. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov commented to Reuters that the drone deal has created “favorable conditions for Turkish manufacturers to build a drone factory in Ukraine so that we can produce the entire line of drones and get their high technologies.” Russia previously accused Ukraine of “destructive” behavior after Ukrainian forces used a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone last October to strike a position controlled by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine
