Turkey Does Not Want To Be 'Guarantor' for Ukraine in Same Way as NATO's Article 5, FM Says

Turkey is against acting as a guarantor for Ukraine as an example of Article 5 of the NATO Charter, the country's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

In an interview with CNN Turk, the foreign minister said that although Turkey was not "against" becoming a guarantor for the eastern European nation, but everyone, including Ankara, said "no" to Ukraine's request for the guarantor application to be regulated in a way similar to NATO's fifth article.

“It is necessary to understand the process itself, what these guarantees are, what will be the requirements? It is necessary that all guarantor countries accept the conditions, further risks," Cavusoglu said, per the translation.

Notably, as Cavusoglu said that Turkey has no interest in sending its troops to Ukraine, he claimed that there were forces among the NATO countries that are interested in continuing the current situation in the country in order to "weaken Russia."

"I personally did not expect the situation to last so long. Especially after the meeting in Istanbul. But at the meeting of the NATO foreign ministers, I already found out for myself that the situation will last," he noted.

Answering whether NATO was interested in continuing the situation, Cavusoglu said that "there are such forces."

"Yes, of course, there are such forces. They want Russia to be further weakened. But who pays the price for this? Ukraine," he stressed.

Also, it is difficult to talk about the timing of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey, but Ankara hopes it will happen soon, Cavusoglu said.

"Both say positive things about getting together. The plan to get together in Turkey is still on the table. They will come together if the conditions are met," he offered his opinion.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is "in active contact" with Putin and Zelensky to organize their meeting, and offered to do it "as soon as possible," he said, adding that Erdogan's phone conversations with Putin and Zelensky were planned "in the coming days."

Turkey also proposes a meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul or Antalya, the minister added.

Regarding the sanctions pressure and attempts to isolate Russia due to its ongoing military operation, Cavusoglu said that ever since the day it started, February 24, Turkey stressed that it will "continue our relations and contacts with both sides [of the conflict]."

"Turkey's position was decided on the first day," he noted.

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Moreover, the foreign minister emphasized that Turkey could not become an honest mediator between Russia and Ukraine if it joined the sanctions against Moscow, and according to him, one should not expect Ankara's sanctions against Moscow, as "it would not be right."

Cavusoglu said that the country still expects 3.5 million Russian tourists to arrive in the summer season, and the national Turkish Airlines intends to increase the number of charter flights.

The minister admitted that the current number is almost half of previous forecasts "due to the well-known situation," but Turkish Airlines may increase the number of charter flights to eliminate the problem with insufficient flights.