ANKARA, January 16. /TASS/. Turkey's Chief Ombudsman Sheref Malkoc has said that the Turkish side is offering to make Istanbul a center for humanitarian corridors for those wounded in the Russian-Ukrainian battle zone, Malkoc told the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet on Monday.
"[Russia and Ukraine] have handed over lists to each other. How many militaries, how many civilians, generals or soldiers are there, we don't know. But we should at least start discussions point by point. It is not easy. We have proposed opening a corridor in Istanbul, but whether it will be by air, land or sea is not yet clear. We are just at the beginning of the road," Malkoc said. He recalled that on the sidelines of the International Conference of Ombudsmen in Ankara on January 11-12, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, her Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Lubinets and Malkoc himself held talks. Ukraine, he said, handed over an exchange list of 800 people, Russia a list of 200, mostly wounded service members and civilians.
The Turkish ombudsman also said that the groundwork had actually been laid during the negotiations among the representatives in Ankara, which could lead to the implementation of the humanitarian corridors initiative. Malkoc, as the newspaper notes, at the start of the talks had called on the sides to first agree on an action plan for the humanitarian corridors initiative instead of discussing a list of people to be exchanged. "Let's move forward slowly and create this mechanism by convincing your leaders and the public," he said. The first stage of the plan, the "image part", focused on the ombudsmen meeting and presenting the initiative to the public in the media.
The second stage involved trying to convince national leaders of the necessity of opening humanitarian corridors for the wounded. The ombudspersons were received in Ankara by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Support was provided at the highest level, Hurriyet reported. "I explained to the ombudspersons that they had to work on the implementation of this mechanism, explaining its essence in Russia and Ukraine. We have done our part. If more support is needed, we will provide it," Malkoc vowed. The Turkish official also confirmed that Erdogan plans to discuss the issue with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. Online meetings of the ombudspersons will continue simultaneously.
Standpoints of Russia’s ombudsperson and Turkey’s leader
Commenting on the reports of the initiative to create a humanitarian corridor between Russia and Ukraine, Moskalkova earlier told reporters that she expected clarity on the issue from Turkey. She added, however, that this matter had not been discussed separately in meetings with the Ukrainian and Turkish sides. According to her, no initiatives for exchanging wounded or POWs are possible without the decisions of the top leadership of the states.
Erdogan, for his part, backed the initiative to create a humanitarian corridor, which he said came from Malkoc. The Turkish leader, however, emphasized not to limit the idea to the Russian-Ukrainian corridor, but to extend it to other regions of conflict such as Azerbaijan, Libya and Syria.