A long-awaited free trade agreement between Ukraine and Turkey will have to wait some more, as the two Black Sea neighbors failed to finalize the pact despite President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Ankara on Aug. 7.
Zelensky told his host, Turkish President Recep Rayyip Erdogan, on the first day of a two-day visit that he hopes to finalize the accord under negotiation for eight years. “I hope that our countries will reach a compromise on this issue as soon as possible,” Zelensky said during a press conference.
Bilateral trade between the countries in 2018 reached nearly $4 billion, which put Turkey among the top 10 trading partners for Ukraine.
But the relationship is still underperforming and bilateral trade could easily reach $10 billion annually, according to Erdogan. “It’s time to finalize the negotiation process for a free trade agreement, which has been going on for many years,” he said.
Once completed, Turkey will join many other nations that have sealed a free trade pact with Ukraine, including the 28-nation European Union, Canada, Georgia and Israel. The Israeli one will enter into force 60 days after ratification by the parliaments in both nations.
Promoting Ukraine as a reliable partner, Zelensky predicted that the economy will grow by 5–6 percent annually, at least double the current rate. “For this, we will make a number of necessary reforms already this autumn, which will make Ukraine a magnet for foreign investors,” he said.
Moreover, Ukraine’s president guaranteed good investment conditions for Turkish business in Ukraine. “I am your personal guarantor of your comfortable work in Ukraine. Let’s grow together,” said Zelensky.
However, there is still a major stumbling block — Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has dismembered the nation and killed more than 13,000 people.
Donbas question
Zelensky asked for a minute of silence during the press conference in memory of four soldiers killed on the morning on Aug. 6 as a result of two attacks on Ukrainian army positions in the eastern Donbas warzone.
“It is very important for everyone to understand that the whole world and Turkey remember our soldiers. It is especially important for their parents and children,” he said.
Explicitly angry at what happened, Zelensky said that now it should be absolutely clear for the world who wants to bring peace to Ukraine and who is against it.
“Turkey would always support the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” said Erdogan as a reply to Russian aggression.
“We wish that the conflict in Donbas will end as soon as possible,” he added.
As a result of five years of war with Russia in the east of Ukraine, the infrastructure was ruined drastically. To change that, Zelensky want to see Turkey as one of key partners to reconstruct the infrastructure there.
In addition, he invited the Turkish side to actively participate this fall in the Donbas International Forum in Mariupol, an industrial city in Donetsk Oblast, some 640 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, to revive the struggling region.
Turkey to help Ukrainian prisoners
More than 100 Ukrainian political prisoners are illegally detained by Russia, including 24 sailors captured by Russia in the Kerch Strait near the occupied Crimea in November 2018.
And Zelensky is sure that Turkey can help Ukraine bring them back, as it is also a part of the issue of ending the war.
“We ask Turkey to continue raising this question. It is also in the interest of all countries of the Black Sea region,” he said.
Moreover, instead of wearing a watch, Zelensky has bracelets around his wrist with the names of the imprisoned Ukrainian sailors.
“These bracelets help me not to forget about the most important thing, about human life,” he said.
However, Erdogan wasn’t strongly impressed, saying that people all over the world are suffering from torment — from the Kerch Strait to Palestine and Myanmar.
“If you put a bracelet on your hand every time, there will be no room left,” Erdogan said. “The most important thing that we as politicians should do is to try to stop this.”
