Europe faced with 'great fire' amid Ukraine war: Turkish parliament head

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - With the war in Ukraine, Europe now faces "a great fire," the Turkish parliament speaker said on Tuesday.

"What are we doing here, in Slovenia, at the conference of speakers of EU parliaments, while there's a great fire and great crisis in Ukraine, while a great humanitarian tragedy is being experienced, and a great fire, a great migration wave has come to Europe's door?" Mustafa Sentop asked at the meeting in the capital, Ljubljana.

On talks between Russia and Ukraine held in Istanbul on Tuesday, Sentop criticized EU member countries for failing to prevent the war, adding that the bloc had fallen short in its strategic thinking, prioritization, and predictions.

"We are faced with a European Union that ... is held hostage to the simple whims of a few small countries, instead of robust and comprehensive perspectives on the future, and has failed to include nations that have vast geo-strategic significance and weight, like Turkiye and Ukraine."

He slammed the declaration that the conference is planning to release as an "unfair, cruel" jab at Turkiye.

Sentop underlined that the latest talks in Istanbul indicated that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's intense diplomatic efforts are paying off.

"Turkiye is fulfilling its mission of mediation as a country that both Ukraine and Russia trust to be honest and fair," he said, underlining that Ankara is "working hard to stop this great fire."

Sentop described the declaration as an attempt to slander Turkey with an unjust, ruthless, allegedly bossy approach.

Having arrived in the Slovenian capital on Sunday night, Sentop is set to meet with the country's National Council President Alojz Kovsca.

On Monday, Sentop held talks with top Slovenian officials, including President Borut Pahor, Prime Minister Janez Jansa, and Igor Zorcic, the speaker of Slovenia’s National Assembly.

The Ukraine crisis and Ankara's push for peace were on the agenda.