Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will repeat Turkey's offer to host talks between Russia and Ukraine on a visit to Moscow this week at which he will also discuss Black Sea shipping safety and the South Caucasus, a diplomatic source said on Monday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan gestures during the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) summit in Sofia, Bulgaria, June 10, 2026. Reuters/Spasiyana Sergieva
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will repeat Turkey's offer to host talks between Russia and Ukraine on a visit to Moscow this week at which he will also discuss Black Sea shipping safety and the South Caucasus, a diplomatic source said on Monday.
The visit on Tuesday and Wednesday comes ahead of Turkey hosting a NATO summit on July 7-8, and after Kyiv asked Ankara in April to mediate by hosting a leaders' level meeting. Turkey has maintained cordial ties with Moscow and Kyiv since Russia's invasion in 2022.
The Turkish source said Fidan would meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and later meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He will warn against further escalation in the Black Sea and repeat Turkey's proposal of a limited ceasefire on ports and energy infrastructure, the source said. In recent months, Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of drone attacks on tankers near Turkey's northern coast.
A Ukrainian official said that Kyiv would welcome an offer from Turkey to host bilateral talks, which President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has proposed several times.
Kyiv's ambassador to Ankara told Reuters last month that it wanted deeper ties with Turkey, including joint production in the defence industry.
Fidan will also discuss developments in the South Caucasus, after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won elections this month, and as Yerevan works with Azerbaijan on a peace deal that may speed up Turkey's normalisation with Armenia.
Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu
The mayor of Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city and a bastion of its secular opposition, joined President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party (AKP) on Wednesday, giving it the mayoralty of a city it has never won at the ballot box.
Israelis will on Wednesday mark three years since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a military assault that destroyed much of Gaza, where conditions remain dire despite a year-old ceasefire that is meant to halt the war for good.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Ankara and Istanbul from October 21 to 23, his office said on Tuesday, in what will be the first dedicated bilateral visit to NATO ally Turkey by a Canadian leader.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.