President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stresses that relations between Ukraine and Turkey have significant potential for development and have already reached a new level.
In an interview with Turkish TV channel "TRT", the President said that he had met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the first time immediately after winning the presidential elections when he had not yet started fulfilling the duties of President of Ukraine. He then had formal meetings in Turkey and Ukraine.
“We had a very useful meeting with President Erdogan and we realized that there were good relations between the two countries. But we need to develop them even more. I think we have taken our relations to another level now,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
According to him, the completion of signing the Free Trade Area Agreement (FTA) is very important for both countries. There is only one step left for that.
The Presidents also discussed investment security, projects in the fields of agriculture, defense and energy.
“We also talked about tourism. Turkey has an important experience in these matters, and we will learn that,” the Head of State noted.
The great respect of Turkey to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine is also important, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“We had a long conversation with President Erdogan about the occupation in Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as about the annexation of Crimea. During the meeting, we talked about investments in the Kherson region bordering Crimea for the Crimean Tatars who after the annexation of Crimea moved to Ukraine-controlled regions. We will build houses and hotels there and implement various infrastructure projects for the Crimean Tatars. We built the checkpoint... I want the Crimean Tatars and Crimeans to see our attitude to them. We will invest to show that we appreciate them,” the President explained.