Poland’s Tusk wants Turkey to take a leading role in ending Ukraine war

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he reached a “historic breakthrough” with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday, as he tried to convince the Turkish president to play a role in securing peace between Ukraine and Russia.

“I approached President Erdoğan with an unequivocal proposal that Turkey should take as much co-responsibility for the peace process as possible,” Tusk said.

His visit to Ankara follows Tuesday’s meeting between Ukrainian and United States officials in Saudi Arabia, where the two countries agreed on a proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire as long as Russia accepts.

“Turkey and Poland want a just peace to be concluded, we all know what a just peace is about, we identically view the results of the first phase of the talks that ended in Saudi Arabia between our American and Ukrainian friends,” Tusk said.

Erdoğan added: “We must bring about a just end to the war. We are ready to provide a place for peace talks and all possible assistance.”

Turkey has maintained a balanced position since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, avoiding direct confrontation with Moscow while also supplying weapons to Kyiv.

The Turkish president underlined that European Union membership remains Turkey’s strategic goal and that the bloc must accept Turkey as a full member to “prevent a loss of power and significance.” Turkey has been an applicant since 1987; accession talks began in 2005 but have stalled since 2016.

Tusk said Warsaw would work “to make the European perspective increasingly viable for Turkey and taken seriously by all partners in Europe.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan added: “We must bring about a just end to the war.” | Adem Altan/Getty Images

Turkey has the second-largest military in NATO after the U.S., while Poland has the third-largest force. Poland’s has the alliance’s largest defense budget as a percentage of gross domestic product and is spending billions on modernizing and expanding its military.

Tusk said Poland is ready to cooperate with Turkey “both in the field of defense and the defense industry.”