Türkiye making every effort to end conflicts in Ukraine, prevent food crisis: President

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye is making "every effort" to end conflicts in Ukraine, as well as to prevent a food crisis, the Turkish president told the Turkic summit in Uzbekistan on Friday.

"We are making every effort to end the conflicts, through a just peace, that have been going on for nine months in Ukraine. While doing this, we are making necessary interventions to prevent the food crisis," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during his address.

The member states are going through a sensitive period "with risks as well as opportunities for our countries," Erdogan said, and added: "In this period, we see that it has become much more critical for us to strengthen cooperation, solidarity, and harmony in all fields."

On the second anniversary of Azerbaijan's Karabakh victory, the president reiterated Ankara's support to Baku.

"The peace process in the South Caucasus still remains fragile despite all the attempts of Azerbaijan," he said. "We stand by Azerbaijan in its pursuit of peace as well as in its struggles."

Erdogan urged Turkic states to expand cooperation in the prevention and management of irregular migration, underlining that Türkiye has been the country hosting the most refugees in the world since 2014.

"It would be appropriate for us to develop a common security concept and continue the meetings of the security council secretaries," he added.

He also said a fund should be implemented by the Organization of Turkic States to strengthen cooperation.

"It would be beneficial to implement the Turkish Investment Fund as soon as possible. I believe that the financial opportunities provided by the fund will strengthen our cooperation and accelerate our activities," Erdogan said.