Turkey reiterates it does not recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea

Chairman of the Turkey-Ukraine Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, MP from the Justice and Development Party Tugrul Turkes said this during a meeting with a group of Ukrainian diplomats led by Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey Andrii Sybiha, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We never recognized Russia's annexation of Crimea and we [still] do not. There is no change in our stance on the issue," Turkes told reporters ahead of his meeting with Sybiha.

Underlining that Ankara would continue or be "resolute," Turkes reiterated Turkey's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity "under all circumstances."

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current state of Ukrainian-Turkish relations and their further development. The meeting took place ahead of the scheduled visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Kyiv as part of a meeting of the Ukraine-Turkey High-Level Strategic Council.

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