Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) arrived in Turkey on Monday for his inaugural visit, which will be devoted entirely to the Ukraine war.
In the capital, Ankara, he will first lay a wreath at the mausoleum for the founder of the state, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and will then be received with military honors by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition to a one-on-one conversation, dinner is planned. Scholz will travel back to Germany on Monday evening Berlin.
Turkey has established itself as a mediator in the Ukraine conflict. The NATO country has close ties to Ukraine and Russia, and Ankara borders both countries in the Black Sea. Erdogan has repeatedly emphasized that he does not want to give up either partner and last week brought them together at foreign minister level for the first time since the beginning of the war.
Chief diplomats Dmytro Kuleba and Sergei Lavrov met in the southern Turkish seaside resort of Antalya on Thursday. The talks remained largely unsuccessful. The fact that they took place at all was viewed as a diplomatic success not only by Turkey itself, but also by Western allies.
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Scholz is also trying to mediate with French President Emmanuel Macron in the Ukraine war. Most recently, the two spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin twice within three days. During a 75-minute phone call on Saturday, they urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
“I’m sure it’s absolutely necessary that we don’t let the conversation break,” Scholz said on Friday after the EU summit in Versailles, France. “I and the French President are certainly the ones who are now talking most intensively to the Russian President – with feedback again and again in conversations with the Ukrainian leadership.”