The eyes of the world are turning to Istanbul again.. Will Turkish efforts succeed in solving the grain crisis?

Istanbul

- The world's eyes are turning to Istanbul again after Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar confirmed the holding of a new quartet meeting between Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations this week, hoping to find a final solution to the grain crisis caused by the Russian war on Ukraine.

Minister Akar indicated after the military quartet meeting held in Istanbul on July 13, with the participation of officials from the four parties, to discuss ways of transporting the suspended Ukrainian grain;

To another meeting to be held this week, indicating that it is expected to be decisive.

The July 13 meeting resulted in an initial understanding on key technical issues such as the establishment of a coordination center in Istanbul with representatives of all parties, joint inspections at ports of entry and exit, and ensuring the safety of navigation on the transit routes.

security concerns

The world is counting on the next meeting, which will also be held in Istanbul, under the auspices of Turkey, which, according to its defense minister, continues to do what it has to do to solve the food crisis, which is a humanitarian problem.

Turkish expert in foreign and military affairs, Cetiner Cetin, says that Turkey is striving to conclude an agreement between Moscow and Kiev on the movement of cargo ships loaded with grain, and to activate this agreement before the fifth of next August in order to allow both countries to store new crops.

Cetin explained, in an interview with the Turkish "Khabar Turk" channel, that security reasons impede efforts to reach a final solution to the grain export crisis from Ukrainian ports to international markets.

He added that Ukraine is looking for real guarantees that Russian warships will not go to the ports of Odessa if Kyiv agrees to remove the naval mines that prevent the arrival of Russian warships to Odessa.

Cetin believes that Ukraine attaches great importance to the port of Odessa, as it has become the country's only outlet on the Black Sea, especially since Kyiv has stated that it wants to open a narrow corridor for the transit of cargo ships with guarantees from concerned parties, led by Turkey, which plays the role of a neutral mediator between the two parties.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, had said that the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine was a "a matter of life and death", noting that there was hope for an agreement this week to open the port of Odessa.

Borrell said in press statements that "the lives of tens of thousands of people depend on this agreement," which is being negotiated between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations.

Russia needs to end the grain crisis

For his part, Dr. Murat Aslan, a professor at Sabahattin Zaim University in Istanbul, believes that Russia insists on lifting the sanctions imposed on it by many countries, especially the European Union countries, to facilitate the movement of ships from its ports and Ukrainian ports towards global markets.

Aslan adds that although the sanctions imposed on Moscow do not directly target foodstuffs and grains, Russian ships are currently unable to dock in many ports, and there are restrictions that Moscow considers “impossible” towards Russian ships, and therefore this matter directly affects the Movement of ships laden with grain.

Russia is also demanding, according to the Turkish academic, to provide the means to deliver the price of the grain it exports to international markets to Russian banks, most of which are subject to strict Western sanctions.

Aslan believed that the Russians need to solve the grain crisis more than the Ukrainians, as a large part of the Ukrainian grain arrives on trains to the countries of the European continent through the border gates with Poland and Romania, while Moscow demands the international community to deal with its ships as it is dealing with Ukrainian ships.

It is noteworthy that the crops of Russia and Ukraine accounted for about 28 percent of the world's wheat exports in 2021.

Many countries in the world suffer from a grain crisis as a result of the inability of cargo ships to leave Ukrainian ports due to the ongoing war between Moscow and Kiev.