Erdogan: West only provokes conflict in Ukraine, fails to mediate
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed on Sunday the West for provocations in Ukraine against Russia, while Ankara was successful in landing the Blank Sea Grain after mediating between the conflicted parties, he said.
"Unfortunately, the West has only made provocations and failed to make efforts to be a mediator in the Ukraine-Russia war," Erdogan said during an event in Erzurum province.
"As Turkey, we assumed this mediator role in 2022, and we began to operate the Black Sea grain corridor," he added.
While 16% of the exported grain was received by Turkey and 14% by African countries, Europe on the other hand received 44% of the commodity, said the President.
Erdogan announced that Turkey will use the Russian grain to produce flour for free to be delivered to African countries in need, along with Russia and the UN, referring to the proposal made earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply poor and developing countries with grain and fertilizers free of charge.
On July 22, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov signed a grain dealmediated by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul.
The deal stipulated that the Ukrainian side will have control over the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny, from which grain exports will be organized. Aside from that, no ships other than those exporting grain and related food products and fertilizers will be permitted to dock at these ports.
However, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) revealed on October 7 that only a quarter of the grain exported under the UN-brokered deal with Ukraine and Russia via the Black Sea is going to low-income countries.
Most of the grain leaving Ukraine's ports after the grain shipments deadlock that exacerbated the international food crisis is heading to the European Union instead of developing countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said back in September as the world's poorest nations bear the brunt of the food crisis the most.
Both Ukraine and Russia are responsible for 30% of global grain exports. According to the UN, nearly 50 million people began to face “acute hunger” around the world due to the shortage of gains caused by the war.