Newsletters
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said late Thursday that Türkiye was not present at recent U.S.-led meetings on the Ukraine-Russia war because it is not a party to the conflict, emphasizing the country's role as a neutral mediator rather than a combatant ally.
"We are not a party to the war. We should be neither at the Alaska table nor at the Washington table. Because Trump is bringing together the warring parties," Fidan said during an interview with TGRT Haber, responding to questions regarding Ankara's absence from U.S. President Donald Trump's recent meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders.
The foreign minister revealed extensive diplomatic engagement with key negotiators, including a Thursday night conversation with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and lengthy discussions with Ukraine's National Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov.
Breaking News, Direct to You.
Follow Türkiye Today on WhatsApp
for real-time updates and key insights from Türkiye and beyond.
Fidan expressed optimism about the prospects for peace, citing developments from the Istanbul negotiations that have evolved through subsequent talks in Alaska.
"We are hopeful for peace between Russia and Ukraine. We have sufficient reason for this hope," he said, noting that certain positions developed during the third round of Istanbul talks later materialized in Alaska discussions.
Fidan revealed that specific frameworks from Erdogan's meetings with both Putin and Zelenskyy have become central to negotiations.
"Our President (Erdogan) had outlined certain specific issues in his meetings with Putin in Russia and with Zelenskyy in Ukraine. When I discussed these, we saw that some perspectives we put forward essentially constitute the main backbone in these meetings," he said.
The minister then detailed Russia's modified position: "Is there a problem? Yes. Previously, the Russians had the issue of taking the complete administrative borders of four provinces. Now they have given up those demands and, except for one place, are staying at the contact lines."
He specified: "'Donbass,' as you know, is divided into two—Luhansk and Donetsk. Regarding the 25%-30% remaining area in Donetsk being returned to them and staying at the contact lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, there is currently a preliminary position."
"Their acceptance of this framework, guaranteed by a security mechanism, actually presents a tremendous framework as framework agreement articles," Fidan stated.
Emphasizing the importance of certain land parcels in Donetsk for Ukrainians, Fidan noted that Türkiye carries the characteristic of being a key actor in this matter.
"If we are to be asked to produce benefit at a certain point later, if we are to be asked to be functional, we need to be qualitatively involved in these discussions from the beginning. We need to look very closely at issues concerning each area of expertise with our soldiers, our intelligence officers, our diplomats," Fidan explained.
"We are producing the knowledge and activity we need to produce for our own national interests, but if a joint security mechanism is to be established, its quality is different," he added.
1 min read
Noting that a general agreement was reached with the Russian side on certain principles at the Alaska summit, Fidan said: "There is a general agreement between the Russians and Americans. There's talk of a summit for its later implementation. There is currently no clarified date regarding this summit."
He explained that discussions are ongoing about how the summit should proceed. One question is whether leaders should meet directly to address the issues, or if their teams should first work out certain matters before the leaders convene. This, he noted, remains under consideration.
"We also see that some preliminary statements made mutually last week slightly dampened the positive atmosphere created in Alaska and later in Washington. But we are closely following all of these. We are in very close contact with each of those parties," Fidan continued.
"We are not only using this knowledge accumulation to make our calculations and take our measures related to Türkiye's interests and the region's interests. We also have valuable contributions regarding the solution to the issue," he emphasized.
Responding directly to criticism about Türkiye's absence from Trump's meetings in Washington with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Fidan provided detailed context: "Now Trump met with Putin in Alaska. He met with Europeans and Ukrainians in Washington. This means: Trump is bringing together the warring parties. We are not a party to the war. We should be neither at the Alaska table nor at the Washington table. Because Trump is bringing together the warring parties."
He continued: "When we brought the parties together at the table we established in Istanbul, they were there too. If a security mechanism is established without you, if this happens despite Türkiye's wishes, then there could be justified criticism—Türkiye should have been here, why isn't it?"
"But whether Türkiye deliberately chose not to take certain actions and, as I said, what that picture represents—this is not something I can talk about much in my capacity as Foreign Minister. Our people, our political commentators, you, the world, everyone is even caricaturing it. But what I can say professionally is: we are not a party to the war. Therefore, there is nothing more normal than our not being in those two pictures," Fidan stated.
Addressing Libya, Fidan noted that after Türkiye established its presence following April 2019, there has been no further war in the region, and a gradual mutual trust has been built for the unification of Eastern and Western Libya.
"At the point we've reached today, our naval vessels, our MIT Chief (Ibrahim Kalin), maybe there are some issues, if they are resolved, maybe it would be possible for us to go as well. Now we've brought it to a point. We did something else in parallel with this. We've taken our relations extremely far forward on this issue, especially with other countries that can sometimes be part of the problem, sometimes the solution, sometimes both in Libya," he said.
"Among these are Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, where we already have good relations. With these stakeholders too, there is something extremely open, transparent, confidence-building that will contribute to Libya's peace and unity," Fidan explained.
"The pleasing thing is this: thank God, we haven't seen another major conflict during these past years. Look, Türkiye has an incredibly large role here. This time needs to be used politically for the country's unification. But this time has been useful in this way - the desired unity in the sense we wanted didn't emerge, but the examination we've done during the past period, the interaction we have, the political experience gave us a very serious idea about what the next step should be. We currently own that idea and are discussing its implementation with the parties," he stated.
Fidan detailed Türkiye's Libya strategy since the military operation in April 2019: "A de facto situation was created there (in Libya) after the military operation in April 2019. Türkiye began to take charge of the situation there with both its friendly elements and military forces."
"The fact that Libya is currently under separate wills de facto as East and West, of course, our recognition of the Government of National Unity in Tripoli and our work with those friends in the West happened within a strategy," he explained.
"Now our basic strategy, as our President (Erdogan) always emphasizes, is Libya's unity, integrity, and non-division. There are those regionally or globally who hope for Libya's division, remaining weak, and being operated with a weak central will," Fidan warned.
3 min read
