ANKARA, March 3. /TASS/. Any peace process in Ukraine is possible only if both Kiev and Moscow take part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"Although we continue to support sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, we believe that there can be no solution without Ukraine or without Russia," he told foreign ambassadors.
Erdogan added that over the past three years, his country has been "trying to find a solution without adding more fuel to the fire."
By hosting peace talks in Istanbul, negotiating the Black Sea grain deal and mediating prisoner swaps, his country demonstrated that "negotiations and compromises are possible, despite the ongoing hostilities," Erdogan said.
"We’ve said on many occasions that settlement formats that exclude any of the parties to the conflict will produce no result," he said. "A lasting peace will be possible only when a just and fair peace formula is found. This can be achieved only as a result of a negotiation process involving both parties."
He reaffirmed that Turkey "is ready to host negotiations [on Ukraine] and render all possible assistance" to the reconciliation process.