Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has again appealed to Russia not to invade Ukraine.

Attacking or occupying Ukraine would be "unwise", including for Russia itself, Erdoğan told Turkish news channel ntv on Wednesday evening.

He repeated his offer to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.

Turkey is doing what is expected of it as a NATO member.

For Turkey, the territorial integrity of Ukraine is a key concern, Erdoğan said.

Rainer Herman

Editor in Politics.

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Erdoğan said that solutions to Russia's legitimate concerns about its security would have to be found through dialogue.

However, Moscow must also be told that some of the demands are not plausible.

Erdoğan announced that he would travel to Kyiv in early February for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Turkish media reported on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted Erdoğan's invitation and would visit Turkey at a date not yet known.

Drones and ships for Ukraine

Last week, Erdoğan dismissed the scenario of a Russian attack on Ukraine as "not realistic" because it would have negative consequences for Russia and because the Ukrainian army was strong enough.

Erdoğan repeated his mantra that Russia had "occupied" Crimea.

As a southern border on the Black Sea, Turkey fears the negative effects of a war between Russia and Ukraine.

Ankara also wants to prevent the Black Sea from becoming a "Russian Sea".

Turkey is therefore siding with Ukraine and expanding bilateral armaments cooperation.

Turkey wants to get the engines for its own fighter jet from Ukraine.

In December, Putin complained to Erdoğan that Ukraine was using Turkish drones against pro-Russian separatists in Donbass.

Nevertheless, Ankara wants to deliver more drones to Ukraine and now also build ships for its navy.

Russia is also upset because Turkey is allowing NATO warships to pass through the Straits, which Russia sees as a violation of the 1936 Straits Convention.

In addition, Turkey has always advocated the eastward expansion of NATO.