The office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he has discussed Russia's invasion of Ukraine with Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the strongman leader of Belarus who is closely allied with Moscow.
The early morning phone call on March 1 centered on cease-fire negotiations held between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Belarus the previous day. While the talks failed to reach a breakthrough, negotiators have said another round of discussions will be held in the coming days.
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Erdogan reportedly said that NATO member Turkey would continue to play a role in trying to end the war that has entered its sixth day, that Ankara would maintain its ties to both Moscow and Kyiv, and that his country would implement an international accord to limit the passage of Russian warships through the Turkish straights to the Black Sea.
On February 28, Erdogan said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "unacceptable" and that Turkey would honor its commitments to the Western NATO military alliance.
The Turkish president also said that his country, which shares a maritime border with both Ukraine and Russia and has good ties with each, would not turn its back on either country.
Ukraine earlier asked Ankara to implement the 1936 Montreux Convention that gives Turkey the right to bar warships from using the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus during wartime, and Erdogan said he would implement the pact after determining that the conflict in Ukraine was a war.
“Turkey is determined to use the authority given by the Montreux Convention on Turkish Straits in a manner to prevent escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis,” Erdogan said.
Ankara has forged close ties with Russia in the energy and defense sectors, but has also sold drones to Ukraine and, despite raising Moscow's ire, signed a deal to co-produce more.
Lukashenka has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin's military assault on Ukraine and said that Belarusian troops could take part in the Russian military campaign if needed.