UPDATE - Turkish president voices hope for Black Sea grain deal extension

ADDS MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH PRESIDENT, BACKGROUND

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday voiced hope that the parties to the Black Sea grain deal will extend the agreement set to expire on Monday.

"We are preparing to host (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in Türkiye in August. We are of the same mind on the extension of the Black Sea grain corridor.

"(UN Secretary General Antonio) Guterres sent a letter to Putin. I hope that with this letter, we assure the extension of the grain corridor deal with the joint efforts of us and Russia," Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul.

This will help solve the problems of poor African countries, Erdogan said, adding that Putin had also agreed with this.

Previously, Putin offered to send grain to poor countries free of charge.

A year ago, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports which had been paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began that February. A Joint Coordination Center was set up in Istanbul with officials from the three countries and the UN to oversee the shipments.

The first ship carrying grain under the historic deal left in August from the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

Türkiye, internationally praised for its unique mediator role between Ukraine and Russia, has repeatedly called on Kyiv and Moscow to end the war through negotiations.

Russian officials have strongly hinted that this month they could block the extension of the grain deal, complaining that parts of the deal to allow Russian exports have gone unfulfilled.

- Ties with Greece

Turning to ties with Greece, President Erdogan emphasized that both he and Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as leaders who were recently reelected, share a common goal of taking steps "in a positive direction."

Erdogan and Mitsotakis met Wednesday on the sidelines of a NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

The most important issues Erdogan said he discussed with Mitsotakis were "related to Western Thrace, the issue of muftis."

Greece's Western Thrace region near the border with Türkiye is home to a substantial, long-established Muslim Turkish minority of approximately 150,000 people.

The rights of Turks are guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but the situation has deteriorated significantly in recent decades, with Greece refusing recognize religious leaders, or muftis, elected by the minority.

Erdogan signaled that he could come together with Mitsotakis again in the future after preliminary preparations by ambassadors and foreign ministers.

- Türkiye's EU membership process

During his talks with other leaders in Vilnius, Erdogan said he discussed Türkiye's EU membership process in detail.

"We talked in detail with the leaders of EU countries and told them, 'We want positive steps to be taken towards Türkiye, which has been held off in front of the EU's doors for 52 years.'," he added.

Türkiye applied for EU membership in 1987 and has been a candidate country since 1999.

Negotiations for full membership started in October 2005 but have stalled in recent years due to political hurdles erected by some countries.