Turkey’s Erdogan demands Russia return Crimea to Ukraine, calls for “fair and lasting peace”

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who was once called a “dear friend” by Vladimir Putin — reiterated his support for Kyiv and advocated for the return of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula to Ukraine, as per a report by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.

“Our support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence is unwavering. The return of Crimea to Ukraine is a requirement of international law,” Erdogan declared in a video message to the Fourth Crimea Platform Leaders Summit.

In the address, Erdogan also said that Turkey has always been opposed to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and he decried the persecution of the peninsula’s ethnic Tatar population that has occurred since Russia’s takeover in 2014.

“I believe that additional steps will continue to be taken to strengthen the rights of the Crimean Tatar Turks in the upcoming period,” Erdogan said, adding that “[Crimean Tatar Turks should live] freely, securely, and peacefully in their own homeland.”

Concluding his address, Erdogan outlined Ankara’s broader vision for the end of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine: “Our sincere wish is for the war to end with a fair and lasting peace based on Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence.”

Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula in Feb. 2014, and by the end of the following month, Moscow had physically annexed the region, with President Vladimir Putin officially dividing it into two federal subjects of the Russian Federation.

Since then, Crimean Tatars have continued to resist Moscow’s rule, advocating for Ukraine's territorial integrity and opposing Russian occupation.

Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has maintained friendly ties with Russia despite Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, opposing Western sanctions on Moscow and continuing to engage in trade and energy deals — including the purchase of Russian natural gas and the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

However, Ankara has also supplied Kyiv with drones and publicly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Turkish defense company Baykar, maker of the well-known Bayraktar drone models, even began building a factory near Kyiv earlier this year.

Turkey also reportedly broke an agreement with Moscow in July 2023 after it allowed five commanding officers who defended Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant during Russia’s spring 2022 siege to return to Ukraine from Turkish territory after being freed by Russia in a prisoner exchange. As part of the deal, Ukraine got back 200 prisoners of war for Viktor Medvedchuk, a close associate of Putin’s and Ukraine’s most prominent pro-Russian politician, who had been arrested in Apr. 2022 on charges of high treason.

Separately, five top commanders involved in the Azovstal defense were swapped for 55 Russian prisoners of war, whose identities were not disclosed. Following the exchange, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the commanders would remain in Turkey “until the war ends.”