ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he plans to call his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts and discuss the holding of peace talks at the leadership level in Turkiye.

“We have planned to talk with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy again one or other day. With this meeting, hopefully, we plan to continue the process in Istanbul at the level of leaders,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul.

Erdogan said the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine yielded “positive” results so far, but not exactly as it should have been.

Noting that the negotiation process will get better, he said: “We are not hopeless.”

Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on March 29 were seen as a breakthrough in the push to halt hostilities that, according to the UN figures, have claimed the lives of at least 2,345 civilians and left 2,919 more injured since Feb. 24.

After the Istanbul meeting, a Ukrainian negotiator said Kyiv wants Turkiye among the countries that will be guarantors in any deal with Moscow.

In March, Turkiye also brought together the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in its southern resort city of Antalya, the first meeting of senior government officials from the two sides since the start of the war.

Regarding Turkiye’s latest anti-terror operation in northern Iraq, he said security forces have neutralized 45 PKK terrorists in Operation Claw-Lock, inflicting agonizing pain upon the terror group.

He said three Turkish soldiers were also killed during the operation, adding that "we will continue our fight against terrorism steadily and tirelessly."

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq to plot cross-border attacks in Turkiye.

In 2020, Turkiye launched operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle in the border regions of northern Iraq to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and the frontiers.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.