Xinhua News Agency
ANKARA – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said his country has to maintain close ties with both Kiev and Moscow.
He made the remarks while responding to a question as to whether Turkey will comply with international sanctions against Russia at a joint press conference here with visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Turkey has to maintain friendship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan said, adding “as for the sanctions issue, we did what was necessary so far within the framework of UN rules.”
“Despite Russia, we made for Ukraine what the NATO countries could not do,” Erdogan said.
For his part, Scholz said Turkey and Germany have common concerns regarding the Ukraine crisis and agree on the necessity for a ceasefire.
Stressing further efforts to develop economic relations, and in particular advance energy cooperation, with Turkey, Scholz said that Germany aims to free itself from the dependency on Russian energy and gradually create the necessary sovereignty for its own decisions, thus cooperation with Turkey is possible.
Scholz arrived in Turkey on Monday for his first official visit since he took office. (Xinhua)
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