Erdogan accuses West of ill treating Putin

Erdogan accuses West of ill treating Putin
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“Every leader I met in Prague spoke against Putin. Let me be frank now. I told them they were doing it wrong,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday boasted his international relations capacity after a key mediation between Russia and Ukraine for the resumption of Ukraine’s grain export, saying that the leaders of both warring countries never rebuffed his requests.

In a live interview with Turkey’s ATV, Erdogan said the western leaders instead always argued against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Every leader I met in Prague spoke against Putin. Let me be frank now. I told them they were doing it wrong. Because if you show such negative attitudes at the head of a state like Russia, I'm sorry, he will take up a position not to get himself crushed,” Erdogan said, referring to a European summit in Prague held last week. 

The Turkish president said that the grain deal issue showed that the Russian president “is not someone who will take a step back” if you go against him.

He singled out Germany which he said was trying to find a “common ground” with Russia. 

Recalling Tuesday's phone call with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz, Erdogan said The German chancellor has changed his stance over Russia.

Erdogan said he agreed with Putin on sending grain to African countries after Russia said it would resume participation in the Ukraine grain deal.

Erdogan said Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier proposed to him sending grain to countries like Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan first, saying people were currently starving there.

"The situation there is not good at all. If there is a problem in other African countries, we will carry out these shipments." Erdogan said.

He said he also discussed the issue with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

3rd nuclear power plant

Erdogan also said that Ankara and Moscow are working on the construction of a third nuclear power plant, without mentioning its location.

An intergovernmental agreement was signed between Türkiye and Russia in May 2010 for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which will have four VVER-1200 type power reactors with a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts.

Last month, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom started negotiations with Türkiye for the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Turkish city of Sinop on the Black Sea coast. The Sinop nuclear power plant will be the country's second nuclear project following the country’s first nuclear plant, the under-construction Akkuyu project.