Turkey Backs Ukraine’s Position on Crimea

The international community puts additional pressure on Russia for its role in Ukraine and Crimea, with the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu supporting Kiev’s attempt to restore ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity.’ 

‘Ahmet Davutoğlu has emphasized that Turkey didn't recognize the annexation of Crimea’ reads a note released on Wednesday by the office of Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine. 

A few hours later, on Thursday, Poroshenko also met Lithuania’s Dalia Grybauskaitė. 

‘Dalia Grybauskaitė and Petro Poroshenko exchanged views on the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine, including intensified military action in which civilians are killed despite efforts to reach political agreement’ Lithuanian government wrote on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, Moscow asked Germany and France to put pressure on Kiev to avoid an increase of military presence in Eastern Ukraine, adding that it supports the Minsk. 

‘Ukraine insists on the line as recorded in the appendix to the Minsk Memorandum of 19 September, and we support this position’ Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on Wednesday, referring to the line of contact.