International News
2022 was ‘a defining moment’ for Turkish diplomacy
Türkiye has been a top mediating force between Ukraine and Russia, while developing different reconciliation paths with countries from Israel to Egypt.
2022 will be remembered as the year when Russia attacked Ukraine, starting a difficult war with no end in sight and escalating tensions between the West and Moscow.
The year has also seen some crucial peace initiatives emanating from Türkiye, a NATO member, which has a working relationship with Russia on different conflicts like Syria, aiming to find a common ground between Kiev and Moscow.
Turkish peace efforts were fruitful with some significant results, like the landmark grain deal and exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine. Ankara has also launched other crucial peace initiatives normalising its ties with Israel and Egypt, two important Middle Eastern states, with which its relations had deteriorated in the 2010s.
Gregory Simons, an associate professor at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University, believes 2022 was “a defining moment” for Türkiye, which “managed to negotiate achievements that no other country can.”
According to Simons, “the example of Ukraine as a geopolitical shatter belt between US and Russia has seen Türkiye take a role as an honest broker in the conflict,” which reaffirmed the country’s wisdom in establishing and developing an independent balancing and mediating role in the current era of risk and uncertainty.
Unlike many other Western states, Ankara’s hard work and persistence along political and economic tracks yielded progress like the grain shipment agreement “in a highly divisive and emotionally driven geo-economic and geopolitical conflict,” showcasing Ankara’s growing position as a subject and not an object of events, Simons tells TRT World.
In 2022, Türkiye emerged as “the world’s most important peace actor that left its mark on the year,” says Mesut Hakki Casin, a professor of international law at Yeditepe University, referring to Turkish efforts to address the Ukraine conflict.
“While Turkey successfully demonstrated its neutrality policy in the Ukraine war, just as it did in the Second World War, it played the role of mediator in the conflict as stipulated in the 33th article of the UN,” Casin tells TRT World. During WWII, Ankara stayed neutral between Nazi Germany-led Axis countries and the Allied forces, avoiding any casualties.
Ukraine policy:
Despite much pressure from the US and Europe, Türkiye has refused to be part of Western sanctions on Russia, believing that talking with Moscow is better than isolating it. But at the same time, Türkiye has urged Russia to withdraw from all occupied Ukrainian territories, fiercely defending Kiev’s territorial integrity.
The Ukraine war has shown that “Türkiye in the 21st century pursues a fundamentally different foreign and security path than that played during the Cold War,” says Simons. In this path, Ankara acts as a bridge between the Western-centric and non-Western-centric worlds, he says.
Unlike the past, when Ankara followed a passive foreign policy, under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Türkiye has demonstrated the country’s political and military potential in the international arena from Ukraine to Central Asia.
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the only leader capable of talking with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, working to develop a rapprochement between the two sides,” says Casin.
Beyond Turkish mediation efforts, Ankara has also taken a crucial step to close its straits to both Russian and NATO warships in alignment with the Montreux Convention, which regulates the status of Turkish channels. “With this crucial measure, Türkiye has prevented the spread of the Ukraine war to other areas particularly in the Black Sea,” says Casin.
This measure also crucially led to setting demarcations in the conflict between Russia and the West, limiting tensions between the two sides, according to the Turkish professor.
Yasar Sari, an expert at Haydar Aliyev Eurasian Research Center of Ibn Haldun University, also believes that Türkiye’s diplomatic efforts “have kept the Ukraine conflict limited,” preventing the war from turning into a regional conflict.
Besides the Ukraine conflict, Türkiye has displayed its mediation skills in another difficult conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the Karabakh dispute, urging both Erivan and Baku to find common ground to address their differences.
In October, Erdogan played a critical role to realise an icebreaker peace talks between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders in Prague on the sidelines of an EU meeting.
Middle East normalisations:
During 2022, Türkiye also worked hard to de-escalate tensions across the Middle East, reestablishing its ties with Egypt and Israel and strengthening its connections with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Since a 2010 Israeli raid on Mavi Marmara, a Turkish aid ship travelling toward Gaza, which had long faced blockade by Tel Aviv, Turkish-Israeli ties experienced a deteriorating trend. In 2013, Turkish-Egyptian diplomatic ties were cut off after a coup led by general-turned-President Abdul Fattah al Sisi overthrew the country’s first democratically-elected government.
“Turkiye’s diplomatic initiatives have been very successful in opening a new page with all of the regional powers in the region. This is part of a broader trend in the region of trying to maintain diplomatic channels open among the major players,” says Gallia Lindenstrauss, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), an Israeli think-tank.
“The normalisation process with Israel has been noteworthy for the fact that contrary to the 2016 normalisation effort, this time around there were many more high-level visits, indicating that there is a more solid ground for the current normalisation,” Lindenstrauss tells TRT World.
In March, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Erdogan in a groundbreaking visit to Türkiye. In September, another high-level meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Erdogan was held at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Erdogan also indicated that he wanted to visit Israel after the November elections.
This high-level meeting approach to solidify ties between Türkiye and other states has also been obvious in Ankara’s normalisation process with Egypt. Last month, Erdogan met Sisi in Qatar saying that “there should be no resentment in politics,” referring to past tensions between the two states following the Arab Spring rebellions.
It’s an approach that could go further in the turbulent Middle East. “In the next period, just as it (Türkiye) has entered a (normalisation) path with Egypt, it can also enter another (normalisation) path with Syria,” the Turkish president said. Ankara-Damascus ties have been cut off in the wake of the Syrian civil war, seeing millions of refugees flowing to Türkiye.
During 2022, Erdogan also met UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi and Mohammed Bin Salman in Ankara, showing his commitment to strengthening formerly strained ties with the two Gulf countries.
According to Lindenstrauss, Ankara’s normalisation with Israel indicates the depths of ongoing Turkish diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.
New Delhi, Sep 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit here on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, President El-Sisi and PM Modi joined leaders of BRICS member and partner countries, outreach invitees and heads of international organisations for a family photo in New Delhi.
PM Modi welcomed the leaders of the expanded BRICS grouping as they arrived for the second day of the BRICS Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Sunday.
President El-Sisi, several leaders and representatives of nations attended the gala dinner hosted by PM Modi for BRICS leaders at Bharat Mandapam on Saturday evening.
On Saturday, the leaders of 11 BRICS member countries unanimously adopted the ‘New Delhi Declaration’. The declaration commended India for hosting the Outreach/BRICS Plus Dialogue segment of the 18th BRICS Summit, asserting that India’s chairship has injected “new impetus” to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity.
The leaders of BRICS countries reaffirmed their commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and consensus.
India’s BRICS Chairship is guided by the theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, reflecting PM Modi’s vision of a people-centric approach rooted in the spirit of “Humanity First.”
BRICS comprises Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. The partner countries are: Belarus, Cuba, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
President El-Sisi arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the 18th BRICS Summit. He was warmly received at the airport by the Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Sanjay Seth.
“Warmly welcome the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, to the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. He was received by MoS Sanjay Seth at the airport. India and Egypt share deep bonds of friendship, as we work together to build a stronger BRICS partnership,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated on X.
Tehran/Doha, Sep 13: Iran and Oman have agreed on the details of new entry and exit routes for the Strait of Hormuz and will brief Gulf countries on the outcome of their consultations at a regional meeting in Muscat on Monday, Iranian officials said.
Citing a source close to Iran’s negotiating team, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said that the understanding was reached after “intensive technical and diplomatic talks between Iran and Oman, which culminated in a final agreement in late August.”
Under the understanding, the Gulf’s entry route “lies entirely within Iran’s territorial waters,” and a portion of the exit route also falls “within Iranian territorial waters,” the source said.
The source stressed that the route would operate under Iranian arrangements and the waterway’s southern route will be closed once the new system becomes operational, noting that the United States had insisted that the southern route must be opened.
“The understanding in no way means that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened,” the source said, adding that Iran has seven conditions for reopening the waterway and has conveyed them to the United States.
The source underlined that the waterway will remain closed unless those conditions are implemented, with reopening depending entirely on the US behavior, Xinhua news agency reported.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei announced on Friday that Gulf littoral states’ foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Oman on Monday to exchange views on regional issues, including the Iran-Oman talks on designating safe routes in the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to media on Saturday, Baghaei said the gathering would “hopefully” be attended by foreign ministers from Gulf states as well as Iran and Iraq.
“As part of the agenda, we are going to brief the delegations about the results of the Iran and Oman consultations regarding the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, adding that the two countries had conducted the consultations as “the two coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Late last month, Iran and Oman said in a joint statement that they had exchanged views on a proposed phased framework that includes establishing a temporary joint shipping corridor in the strait.
Following US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran restricted passage through the strategic waterway, while US forces imposed a naval blockade targeting vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports.
The Strait of Hormuz, linking the Gulf with the Arabian Sea, is one of the world’s most important routes for oil and gas shipments. Oman and Iran sit on opposite sides of the strait and have maintained consultations over maritime security and navigation in the strategic waterway.
New Delhi, Sep 13: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday departed from New Delhi after attending the 18th BRICS Summit hosted by India.
Xi Jinping participated in the two-day BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. He joined leaders of BRICS member countries in a joint tree plantation drive in New Delhi. Xi and leaders of other BRICS member countries visited Bharat Innovates Exposition at Bharat Mandapam.
During his visit to India, Xi also held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the two leaders emphasised that “differences should not become disputes” and reaffirmed that both countries should take a strategic and long-term perspective of their ties.
“The two leaders welcomed the steady progress in India-China bilateral relations since their last meeting in Tianjin in August 2025. They reaffirmed that both countries should take a strategic and long term perspective of their ties. Differences should not become disputes. Prime Minister highlighted that both sides must be guided by three mutuals- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after the meeting.
During the meeting, PM Modi stressed that peace and tranquillity in the border areas remain an essential basis for the continued development of bilateral relations.
“He underlined the need for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border-related issues. The two leaders expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question proceeding from the political perspective of their overall bilateral relations and the long-term interests of the two peoples,” the MEA statement added.
Both leaders also took note of the progress in people-to-people ties and underscored the need to further promote cultural exchanges, business linkages and greater mobility between the two countries.
“On economic and trade relations, they underlined the need to address each other’s concerns, including structural trade imbalance and supply chain issues, and facilitation of meaningful and predictable market access,” the statement read further.
According to the MEA, the two leaders agreed that both sides must continue to expand common ground on regional and global issues, and in addressing challenges.
“Prime Minister appreciated China’s support for India’s BRICS chairship and its contributions towards the success of the BRICS Summit-2026,” it concluded.
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