Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that Ankara is actively working to resume negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Türkiye's Directorate of Communications reported on 29 June.
The call comes weeks before the NATO Leaders' Summit in Ankara, where alliance members are expected to commit to new arms supply contracts worth billions of dollars and increase weapons production, including for Ukraine, according to European Pravda.
"We are making efforts for the war between Russia and Ukraine to end with a permanent peace, and we are working to restart negotiations and revive the diplomatic process," Erdoğan said, as quoted by the Directorate of Communications.
Erdoğan also said he expects the Ankara summit to demonstrate "a strong commitment" to Europe strengthening its own defense on a NATO basis and to preserving what he called the "Transatlantic Bond," the directorate reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed he will lead Ukraine's delegation at the summit.
Türkiye has positioned itself as a primary mediator in the Russo-Ukrainian war, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan maintaining open channels with both Kyiv and Moscow since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place in Istanbul in May and June 2025, focusing on ceasefire conditions, prisoner exchanges, and broader peace terms, but produced no ceasefire agreement. The talks resulted mainly in exchanges of prisoners of war and repatriation of fallen soldiers' remains.
