On Friday, May 30, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha welcomed Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan in Kyiv. The parties held detailed talks on the bilateral and international agenda, the peace process, and the need for a complete ceasefire.
“Minister Fidan has just returned from Moscow and gave me a detailed report about what he heard and saw there. We discussed steps that will bring peace closer for Ukraine,” said the foreign minister.
The ministers paid special attention to security issues in the Black Sea region.
“Ukraine and Turkey share a common position: the Black Sea must be a space of peace, free trade, and freedom of navigation,” emphasized Andrii Sybiha.
The diplomats also discussed joint work on implementing agreements following the first meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish working group on reconstruction. According to the Ukrainian minister, Kyiv is ready to facilitate Turkish business participation in relevant projects and expects Turkish delegation participation in the Recovery Conference to be held in Rome in July.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy thanked the Turkish side for the recent important visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Turkey and its fruitful results. Andrii Sybiha also expressed special gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his extremely important role in peace efforts.
“We appreciate that Turkey unconditionally supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including the return of Crimea, and advocates for the rights of the Crimean Tatar people,” noted the minister.
A special element of the visit was the presentation to the high guests at the Ukrainian MFA of archival diplomatic documents from the era of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, including diplomatic correspondence of the UPR Embassy in Turkey, kindly provided by the State Archival Service of Ukraine.
Presenting the exhibition to the Turkish colleagues, Andrii Sybiha stressed that these documents testify to the close diplomatic and interpersonal ties between Ukraine and Turkey.
The Ukrainian MFA expresses gratitude to Anatolii Khromov, head of the State Archival Service, and Larysa Levchenko, director of the Central State Archive of Supreme Authorities and Administration, for their search and preparation of materials for the presentation.
