The territories seized by Russia will be returned to Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is confident. In an interview with the American TV channel PBS, published on Monday evening, September 19, he denied the possibility of securing part of the regions controlled by Russia as the basis of a peace treaty with Ukraine.

"No, and, without a doubt, no… If peace is established in Ukraine, the return of the occupied lands will be very important. This is what is expected, this is what they want ... The seized lands will be returned to Ukraine," Erdogan said, answering the question of whether to make concessions to Moscow.

At the same time, the Turkish president said that since 2014 he has been negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to "return Crimea to its rightful owners." "The people who live there are also our descendants," he stressed and added that it is important for Ankara to support the Crimean Tatars.

Erdogan: Putin seeks to end the war sooner

In an interview that Erdogan gave after meeting with Putin at the SCO summit in Samarkand, he also said that the Russian president seeks to end the war against Ukraine as quickly as possible. "We had extensive discussions with Putin in Uzbekistan. And he made it clear to me that he was ready to get it over with as soon as possible. This is my impression, because the situation is developing quite problematic," Erdogan said.

According to him, the Kremlin would like to "end this battle in peace." "This is a conflict that has led to human casualties. People are dying, and in the end no one will win," he added. At the same time, Erdogan said that Moscow and Kiev had reached an agreement on the exchange of 200 prisoners.

The SCO summit was held in Uzbekistan on September 15-16, it was the first face-to-face meeting of the organization since 2019. At the summit, Erdogan announced Turkey's desire to become a full member of the SCO. "Thanks to this step, our relations with these SCO countries will be transferred to a completely different level," he said. The Turkish president also called fruitful talks with Putin in Samarkand and said that he expects "good results" in the implementation of the agreements reached.

Exchange rates in Turkey - Exchange-turkey.com