Erdogan to hold trilateral talk with Putin, Zelenskyy for ‘grain corridor’ from Black Sea

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, June 12, said that his administration plans to hold a trilateral dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelenskyy as early as next week for the safe passage of Ukrainian grain export from blockaded Black Sea ports. In the footage released to the press by his presidential office regarding a meeting with Turkish youth, Erdogan affirmed that he will broker talks with Russia and Ukraine to establish a safe corridor for shipments of agricultural products in the wake of the global food crisis and record inflation. 

"There is a war going on between Ukraine and Russia, and we know that agricultural products come from these countries to a large extent,” Turkish Presdient Erdogan was heard stating to members who convened the meeting.

"At this stage, we have no problems with this, we have 5 million tons of wheat in our warehouses, but we would like to increase these volumes,” he went on to iterate. 

Turkey to grain shipment out 'not only for ourselves but also for third world nations'

Erdogan affirmed that Ankara will “take part in the work” to get the stranded grain shipment out, “not only for ourselves but also for third world developing countries.” "Negotiations are ongoing. In the coming week we will discuss with Zelenskyy and Putin what steps can be taken,” he said in the footage, accessed by Moscow’s state-affiliated agency Tass. This comes just days after Kremlin asserted that there has been no agreement reached with Turkey to establish the corridor for transit of the Ukrainian grain bound for export to the international markets. Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told state-affiliated reporters that while the talks between Moscow and Ankara are continuing on grain shipments from the Black Sea, no official agreement had been reached yet. 

In a separate meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Ankara, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had proposed that discussions are ongoing with the Russian delegation on the United Nations' proposal to free the Ukrainian grain from blockaded Odesa and other key ports in the Black Sea. Russia will allow 22 million tonnes of grain that has been sitting in silos to be shipped out, claimed Cavusoglu at the state presser. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been working on a package for weeks that would enable Ukraine to export wheat and other major commodities from Odesa. 

Guterres’ plan also involves Russia exporting grain and fertilizer to global markets. The UN Chief has refused to divulge the exact details of the arrangement, saying that it would “jeopardize the plan’s chances of success.”