Russia-Ukraine War: Why Did Turkey Issue A Direct Warning To Moscow?

President Recep Tayyip Erdoan has asked for the return of all “occupied” areas, including Turkey, and Crimea has sent a strong message to Russia. Olga Lautman, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis who does research and analysis on the Kremlin, tweeted the shocking news. “Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, must give back all the land that Russia has taken, including Crimea,” she said.

Erdogan says that the peninsula in the Black Sea should be given back to its “rightful owners.” The comments made outside of the UN General Assembly in New York during an interview with PBS NewsHour are likely to make people in Russia even more angry.

When asked by a translator if letting Russia keep any of the places it took from Ukraine after its intervention in February would be “part of a solution to this situation,” he said, “No, and absolutely no.”

“This is what we mean when we say the agreement works both ways. If peace is to be kept in Ukraine, people will have to go back to the area that was invaded.

“This shouldn’t be a surprise. This is what they mean. Putin has done a few things. We’ve done a few different things. The occupied areas will be given back to Ukraine.”

When asked if Russia “should be allowed to keep Crimea,” Mr. Erdogan said, “Since 2014, we’ve been talking about this with my great friend Putin, and we’ve asked him to do this.” We asked him to give Crimea back to the people who should have it. They are also our children and grandchildren because they live there now.

“If you decided to do this and leave, you would also be comforting Ukraine and the Crimean Tatars. That’s what we’ve said every time. Since then, though, nothing has moved forward.

Erdogan is the latest well-known foreign leader with close ties to Russia to express concern about how the war in Ukraine is getting worse. This is a big blow to Putin.

Last week, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said they were “worried” about the ongoing conflict, and Putin confirmed that this was true.

When they met last week in Uzbekistan, he said that Putin gave him the impression that he was “ready to end this as soon as possible.” He said this about the conflict in Ukraine: “The Russians’ attitude would be the most important thing in this situation.”