The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, in his speech by videoconference before the Canadian Parliament on the 15th. /
The negotiations sponsored by Ankara progress in four of the six points that are discussed
Turkey wants to go down in history as the country that got Russia and Ukraine to reach the peace agreement that put an end to the bloodshed. After the failed initial diplomatic offensive by French President Emmanuel Macron, it is the Ottoman country that is leading the dialogue efforts.
His foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, is optimistic that his mediation can be crowned with success. This Sunday he declared that right now the two contenders are close to agreeing on “fundamental points” of a possible ceasefire. Cavusoglu has detected a “convergence” in the position on the first four articles of the six that are discussed in the negotiations that delegations from both countries have been engaging in for days.
According to the adviser to the Turkish presidency, Ibrahim Kalin, these four articles refer to Ukraine’s withdrawal from joining NATO, the country’s disarmament and mutual security guarantees, the so-called ‘denazification of Ukraine’ (a broad strokes, and Moscow’s demand for the elimination of ultra-nationalist elements in the Government) and the lifting of restrictions on the use of the Russian language.
“Territorial Integrity”
Despite these supposedly good prospects, Cavusoglu recalled that the delegations are in no way qualified to close the negotiation on these aspects, a final decision that remains in the hands of the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, Volodímir Zelenski and Vladimir Putin, respectively.
Zelensky assured this Sunday in an interview with the US network CNN that “he will not give up an iota of sovereignty or territorial integrity.” “We need to find a model through which Ukraine does not lose,” he noted. He was willing to dialogue with Putin as long as both parties assume the scope of said meeting, which if it fails would drag the world into “a third world war.”