ISTANBUL, August 6. /TASS/. Turkey does not support alternative to the Black Sea humanitarian corridor options for agricultural exports and makes active efforts towards seeing the grain deal restored in its former shape, the Sahah daily writes referring to government sources.
According to the newspaper, Ankara continues diplomatic contacts with representatives of the UN, Russia and Ukraine as parties to the Istanbul agreements, hoping to restore the existing grain corridor. The Turkish side supports the functioning of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul, expecting the return of the Russian delegation. Russian representatives left the JCC after Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal.
Turkey assumes that the return to the grain deal in the former format will contribute to the implementation of its main mission and prevent tensions in the Black Sea, Sabah writes.
A source in Turkey's transport circles told TASS earlier that the chances for resuming the grain deal are realistic, given that the Black Sea corridor is cheaper than other options for transportation of agricultural products to world markets, including the possibility of transportation of agricultural products by Ukraine via other sea and land routes, while by Russia - via the North-South transport corridor.
The Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held a telephone call on Wednesday, during which they agreed to prepare a possible meeting. Putin emphasized that Russia was determined to cooperate with Turkey and other interested countries in working out options for supplying its grain to needy countries. Erdogan, in turn, assured that Turkey would continue its active efforts and would use diplomacy to extend the Black Sea grain initiative.
The grain deal expired on July 17. In exiting the deal, Moscow, which had agreed to several extensions of the July 2022 Istanbul agreements creating the Black Sea corridor for ships carrying Ukrainian grain, cited the failure of its deal partners to fulfil the Russia-related provisions of the deal, which called for removing obstacles to Russian agricultural exports. Moscow also noted that, although the Istanbul agreements were intended to ensure food security for the neediest countries, the bulk of Ukraine’s grain actually went to wealthy Western countries.