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Top Turkish diplomat calls for peace dialogue between Russia, Ukraine

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said however that his country doesn’t intend "to recognize the occupied territories"

ANTALYA, March 3. /TASS/. Russia and Ukraine have reached the limit of their military capabilities and a peace dialogue is needed, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

"Our position is that both sides have already reach the limit of what they can attain by military means. We believe that now is time to engage in dialogue toward a ceasefire," he said when closing the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.

He noted however that his country doesn’t intend "to recognize the occupied territories" but at this point "Turkey is convinced that it is time to separate this issue and the topic of sovereignty from the topic of a ceasefire."

According to the top Turkish diplomat, his country "cannot put up with the fact that in the 21st century in the middle of Europe some 500,000 are killed or wounded and the infrastructure of a large country is being totally destroyed." "This must be stopped somehow. And for sake of this the parties must recognize the urgency of talks and accept this idea. I am convinced that both parties have exhausted military means to continue the war. I would like to repeat that the issue of a ceasefire and [Ukraine’s] sovereignty must be separated. It is high time to look for other ways to settle the ceasefire issue," he stressed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the forum earlier that Turkey’s initiatives toward a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine had actually been sabotaged.

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