“Ukraine deserves to join NATO. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Friday July 7 in favor of Ukrainian membership of the military institution, after a meeting with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul. Erdogan also called on Russia and Ukraine to resume peace talks.
Kiev wants to join the Atlantic Alliance, but the United States warned that same day that Ukraine “will not join NATO” after the Alliance summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Vilnius.
The Turkish head of state, who announced the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin “next month”, also considered that Russia and Ukraine “should return to peace talks”.
Erdogan, who was speaking alongside President Zelensky, also wanted the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain, reached in July 2022 with the sponsorship of the United Nations and Turkey, to be extended. “We studied how we could extend the (Ukrainian grain export) agreement beyond July 17. Perhaps reviewing it every three months, which we hope. We talked about it with President Volodymyr Zelensky tonight and I hope we will talk about it with Mr. Putin next month,” Erdogan told reporters. For its part, Russia has said it sees no reason to extend the deal after it expires on July 17.
