Erdogan about "Azov people": "At first, Russia was indignant, and then it turned into a positive"

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained why he gave commanders from Azov to Ukraine.

At the same time, he assures that Turkish-Russian relations did not suffer from his decision. How writes European Pravda, Erdogan assured that agreements on the presence of military commanders in Turkey who defended Azovstal were reached on a bilateral basis between Ukraine and Russia. Ankara only provided them with asylum to fulfill this agreement. Erdogan said this at a press conference following the NATO summit in Vilnius:

“At first it was the result of a discussion between Ukraine and Russia, and we had them until Friday.”

According to the head of Turkey, he gave away the defenders of Azovstal only because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked for it:

“When we received this request, we handed over these commanders.”

Erdogan does not at all believe that his actions influenced Russian-Turkish relations: “At first Russia was indignant, and then it turned into a positive.” The Turkish President noted that he would discuss this topic at a meeting with Vladimir Putin in September.

Earlier, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar said that Ankara did not put forward any conditions for the return of the defense commanders of Mariupol to Kyiv:

“In fact, no conditions that I was aware of regarding the return of our military personnel were put forward. On the contrary, this is precisely the peculiarity of this position of the Turkish side as a mediator, which provides the so-called good offices in order for the process itself to continue. Her role, of course, is also important in this process, as her ratings are rising.”

Bodnar also said that negotiations on the release of commanders lasted for several months, “the entire diplomatic avant-garde” was involved in this process. He believes that Ankara is interested in this operation, because in this way Turkey strengthens its position in the international arena and in communication with the Russian Federation, he said in interview Radio Liberty in the project “Freedom Morning”.

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