Turkey: cereal agreement, a diplomatic success for President Erdogan

After securing the passage of a first freighter, the Turkish president meets Vladimir Putin on Friday, in Sochi, to speak in particular of Ukraine and Syria.

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Party of Odessa Monday morning, the Razoni, a cargo cargo cargo of 26,000 tonnes of corn, was inspected in the morning on Wednesday August 3, at the entrance to the Bosphorus, by a team of Ukrainian experts, Russian , Turks and the United Nations, wearing orange helmets. Once the inspection is completed, the Razoni sounded its mermaid before engaging in the northern entrance to the Bosphorus and continuing its route to the Lebanese port of Tripoli.

The operation went without a hitch. The secure corridors open in the Black Sea have worked, the inspection has not lasted more than an hour and, for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine was able to bring out a first charging of cereals .

The operation devotes the success of the agreements signed separately by Moscow and kyiv, on July 22, in Istanbul, under the aegis of Turkey and the United Nations. A small part of the cereals blocked in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, was able to go out via the Black Sea and be exported. The arrival of other ships has been hoped for Odessa, but also from Tchornomorsk and Ioujne, the other two Ukrainian ports mentioned in the agreement.

“This is a very pleasant situation that we are proud of,” said Hulusi Akar, the Turkish Defense Minister at the official news agency Anadolu. On this occasion, he recalled the intense diplomatic efforts deployed by his country which allowed the signing of the agreement on cereal exports.

According to the Turkish part, other ships are expected to borrow the secure sea corridors in the coming days. According to kyiv, seventeen cargo cargoes loaded with around 600,000 tonnes of agricultural food are ready to leave. However, except the razoni, no other ship has left Ukraine in the last forty-eight hours.

“We hope that the process will continue without interruption or problem,” Tweeted Turkish Foreign Affairs, Mevlüt çavusoglu after the departure of the Razoni. Resolutely optimistic, he wanted the agreement to help strengthen confidence between Moscow and kyiv, to the point of bringing the belligerents “to a cease-fire and a lasting peace”.

The success of the Istanbul agreement enhances the image of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the international scene, restoring Turkey its geopolitical centrality, strengthening its position as an impartial mediator between kyiv, to whom she provides drones of Combat, and Moscow, on which it depends for its energy and food safety.

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/Media reports.