Turkish president says he will speak with Putin to revive Black Sea Grain Initiative

By Necva Tastan

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he plans to speak with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

"We will soon meet with Russian President Putin and say, 'Let us do everything we can to keep the Grain Corridor operational.' Hopefully, we will continue on our way with positive answers," Erdogan said while speaking to journalists on board the presidential plane returning from Hungary.

Describing the grain corridor mechanism as a "positive step" toward a "just" world, he said Türkiye will monitor the follow-up of this plan.

"Let's find a way to operate the grain corridor, no matter what," Erdogan stressed.

On July 17, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal, saying that the Russian part of the agreement had not been implemented. It sought the loosening of banking restrictions and the ability to ship its fertilizer before returning to the agreement.

The agreement, initially signed in July of last year in Istanbul by Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports halted due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022.

In August, Ukraine declared that temporary corridors have been established for merchant vessels arriving at and departing from the country’s ports in the Black Sea.