Türkiye is only country making sincere efforts to end Russia-Ukraine war: Turkish official

 Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Friday that Türkiye is the only country that is making sincere efforts to end the Russian-Ukrainian war as he noted Ankara’s efforts to achieve peace.

Kalin commented on a range of issues including the war and the Cyprus issue came during an appearance on a television program aired by NTV.

Kalin reiterated Türkiye's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and said that there will be no winners in the Ukraine war. “Thus, we are determined to mobilize initiative at all levels and every means possible to end this war as soon as possible.”

On unilateral referendums on joining Russia in areas of Ukraine occupied by Moscow, Kalin said: "We do not find initiatives such as unilateral referendums correct. The international community will not recognize this."

Touching on prisoners of war exchanged between Russia and Ukraine as a result of Türkiye's mediation, the spokesman said Ankara held meetings on the issue and negotiations were finally concluded in Uzbekistan where leaders attended the 22nd Summit of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Russia and Ukraine exchanged 200 prisoners as a result of Türkiye's mediation and diplomatic traffic conducted with the leaders of the two countries.

Kalin further denied claims that Russia violated sanctions through Turkish banks.

F-35 vs S-400

Regarding the F-35 issue between the US and Türkiye, Kalin stated: “What we are entitled to is actually the F-35s.”

“The American administration and Congress have committed a great injustice here. I hope that one day they will correct these mistakes.

“It was not the right attitude legally, politically or morally to exclude Türkiye from the F-35 program because of the S-400 issue. They know it themselves,” he said. “They sacrificed this great project to their own internal, narrow political agendas.”

Reports appeared in May in US news outlets that claimed several lawmakers favored the deal.

Türkiye paid $1.4 billion for the fighter jets but Washington took Ankara out of the program in 2019 because Türkiye purchased the Russian S-400 defense system after efforts to acquire US Patriot missiles were rebuffed.

The US claimed that the Russian system was a security risk. But Türkiye maintained that the S-400 would pose no threat to NATO or its armaments because it would not be integrated into the alliance's systems.

Ankara also repeatedly proposed setting up a commission to resolve the matter.

Cyprus issue

Ankara accepts the lifting of the arms embargo against Southern Cyprus as “a very wrong decision,” Kalin said concerning the Cyprus issue.

“It is out of the question that this will contribute to regional peace and peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“It is also out of the question that this contributes to the peace process of Cyprus,” he said.

“If the negotiations there are to continue, the Americans also know under what rules and principles this should be done. The UN knows it, the Europeans know it,” he said.

He noted that the Greek side has been the only one that refused to take an actual part in the peace process and said: “The Turkish side has always been constructive.”

“The Greek Cypriot side blocked the way for this process for one reason or another,” he said. “While all this is happening, the fact that the American administration lifted this embargo as if it were rewarding the Greek Cypriot side, of course, also causes question marks in us.”

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the UN's Annan plan to end the longstanding dispute.

Greek armament in Aegean Sea

About the armament of the islands in the Aegean Sea by Greece, Kalin pointed out that Türkiye has always worked for the peace and stability of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.

“What is the logic of this armament at a point so close to the Turkish border,” he said, adding that no valid and rational response was ever given to Türkiye when it asked the same question.

According to Turkish National Defense Ministry sources, Greece violated Türkiye’s airspace and territorial waters more than 1,100 times in the first eight months of 2022 alone.

Türkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under the treaty, saying that such moves frustrate its good faith efforts for peace.