Turkey Seeks Role in Solving Food Crisis

Ankara in talks with Kyiv and Moscow to find a way to move grain out of Black Sea ports

A deal to unblock food exports from Ukraine has made progress but agreement will not be immediate, the UN said on Wednesday, as Turkey and Russia are set to discuss the issue next week.

UN General Secretary António Guterres told a news conference there was still “a ways to go” in getting food exports out of Ukraine and Russia.

World food prices have skyrocketed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

In normal times, Ukraine and Russia provide about 7% and 18% of world wheat exports, respectively.

Ukraine normally supplies food to 400 million people around the world, and, together with Russia, accounts for 67% of the world’s sunflower oil supply.

Much of Ukraine’s agricultural products can’t be exported due to infrastructure damage and the closure or blockade of ports on the Black Sea, while Russia’s food exports have faced sanctions from the West.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s spokesperson said on Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine have expressed a desire to cooperate with Ankara on the problem.

Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said that some details would be worked out during a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Turkey on June 8.

“All these issues will be decided in the meetings to be held in [Turkey] in the next one to two weeks, and after that, [the country] will have undertaken a very important task in preventing the world food crisis,” Kalin said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in an interview with the state news agency that a humanitarian corridor for ships carrying food would be discussed with Lavrov.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with Erdoğan about food security and unblocking Ukraine’s ports.

“There is a chance for this plan to work since [Russian President Vladimir] Putin might like this image of a benevolent and wise leader who contributes to the common good,” said Volodymyr Dubovyk, director of the Center for International Studies at Odessa I. Mechnikov National University.

Dubovyk told The Media Line that the blockade has allowed Russia to keep significant pressure on Ukraine.

Putin’s spokesman denied accusations last week that Moscow was blocking ports and instead said it was the fault of Western leaders.

“They [the West] must cancel those illegal decisions that prevent the chartering of ships, that prevent the export of grain, and so on” so that supplies can resume, Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters.

Dubovyk said Ukraine wants a deal that allows grain to get out.

“Yet for Kyiv, this should not have any strings attached in relation to potential peace negotiations, let alone premature lifting of sanctions on Russia,” he said.

The UK said it was willing to send navy ships to the Black Sea to ensure Ukrainian vessels carrying food can get out of the ports.

Kerim Has, a Moscow-based political analyst focusing on Russia and Turkey, believes Moscow would rather work with Ankara on an export corridor than have other NATO countries enter the Black Sea.

The fact that a Kremlin read-out of a phone call with Erdoğan, and not other leaders, stressed cooperation on the food crisis showed that Moscow preferred cooperation with Turkey, Has said.

The Kremlin’s press service reported that “Vladimir Putin noted readiness of the Russian side to facilitate unobstructed seaborne transit of goods in coordination with Turkish partners. This also pertains to export of grain from Ukrainian ports.”

Has said Moscow would not want warships from other NATO countries to reach the ports because it could allow them to provide more weapons to Ukraine.

Such an option would also increase the risk of a confrontation between NATO and Russia.

In June 2021, the Russian Coast Guard fired warning shots at a British warship in the Black Sea that was near Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

“For Erdoğan, it’s important that the war in Ukraine doesn’t turn into a war between NATO and Russia,” said Has. “Turkey would be one of the main targets of Russia if such a war emerged.”

Has added that success in facilitating food exports would be a major boost for Erdoğan’s image.

The Turkish president’s domestic popularity has gone down as his country struggles with massive inflation.

However, a poll by Metropoll showed a recent steady rise in Erdoğan’s approval rating as he has cultivated a position as a mediator in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

“If Erdoğan takes a role, even a symbolic role, in this solution … there will be so much prestige for him,” Has said.