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Ukraine Expects Solidarity From Turkey, Says Envoy

A woman with her daughter waits for a train as they try to leave at the Kyiv train station, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. AP
A woman with her daughter waits for a train as they try to leave at the Kyiv train station, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. AP
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Ukraine Expects Solidarity From Turkey, Says Envoy

A woman with her daughter waits for a train as they try to leave at the Kyiv train station, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. AP
A woman with her daughter waits for a train as they try to leave at the Kyiv train station, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. AP

Ukraine's ambassador to Ankara said on Thursday that his country expected solidarity from NATO member Turkey and that the latter should not remain impartial after Russia launched air and ground assaults on its neighbor.

Speaking to reporters after holding talks at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said Turkey would evaluate a Ukrainian request to provide aid and to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian ships.

"Turkey will evaluate the requests and respond as soon as possible," Bodnar said after his talks with Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal.

"We expect solidarity to be shown."

Ukraine's request that Turkey shut off access to the Black Sea puts Turkey in a difficult position as it shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good
relations with both countries, Reuters reported.

Under a 1936 pact, Ankara has control over the straits and can limit the passage of warships during wartime or if threatened.

Bodnar said it was important for Ukraine that Turkish messages of support are expressed openly to the public and that they are heard by the international community.

"Turkey should not remain impartial," he said. "We are calling on Turkey to be active and proactive and to help Ukraine."

In a news conference in Ankara earlier, Bodnar had said Ukraine wanted sanctions imposed on the Russian side as well as calling for the straits and air space to be closed.

Turkey has opposed sanctions on Russia. President Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara would try to manage the crisis without abandoning ties with either Moscow or Kyiv, but also said Russian steps against Ukraine were unacceptable.

While building close cooperation with Russia on defense and energy, Ankara has also sold sophisticated drones to Ukraine and signed a deal to co-produce more, angering Moscow.

Turkey opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its 2008 recognition of two Georgian regions.

Earlier this month, six Russian warships and a submarine transited the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits to the Black Sea for what Moscow called naval drills near Ukraine waters.

On Thursday, Turkey advised its citizens in Ukraine to stay at home or in a safe place and avoid traveling, after airlines cancelled flights due to the closure of Ukraine's air space.

Erdogan convened a summit of top security officials on Thursday to discuss the Russian offensive, his office said.

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Philippines Challenges China Over South China Sea at Asean Meet

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convene at a summit hosted by Laos in the capital Vientiane, to tighten diplomatic ties and discuss the ongoing civil unrest in Myanmar and tensions in the South China Sea. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convene at a summit hosted by Laos in the capital Vientiane, to tighten diplomatic ties and discuss the ongoing civil unrest in Myanmar and tensions in the South China Sea. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
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Philippines Challenges China Over South China Sea at Asean Meet

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convene at a summit hosted by Laos in the capital Vientiane, to tighten diplomatic ties and discuss the ongoing civil unrest in Myanmar and tensions in the South China Sea. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convene at a summit hosted by Laos in the capital Vientiane, to tighten diplomatic ties and discuss the ongoing civil unrest in Myanmar and tensions in the South China Sea. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos challenged Chinese Premier Li Qiang over recent clashes in the South China Sea at regional summit talks on Thursday, as fears grow that conflict could erupt in the disputed waterway.
Li met the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at their gathering in Laos after a day of discussions dominated by the Myanmar civil war.
Recent months have seen a spate of violent clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels in waters around disputed reefs and islands in the South China Sea, AFP reported.
Marcos raised the issue in the meeting with Li, arguing that "you cannot separate economic cooperation from political security," a Southeast Asian diplomat who attended the meeting told reporters.
The Li summit was largely focused on trade, and came the same day the premier met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who said Beijing has agreed to lift sanctions on the lucrative lobster industry.
But Marcos told the meeting that ASEAN and China cannot pretend that all is well on the economic front when there are tensions on the political front, the Southeast Asian diplomat said.
Marcos also said that both sides should hasten talks on a code of conduct in the sea.
On Wednesday, ASEAN leaders repeated longstanding calls for restraint and respect for international law in the South China Sea, according to a draft summit chairman's statement seen by AFP.
The growing frequency and intensity of clashes in the disputed waterway are fuelling fears that the situation could escalate.
"The South China Sea is a live and immediate issue, with real risks of an accident spiraling into conflict," Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told his fellow leaders in Wednesday's summit.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, a waterway of immense strategic importance through which trillions of dollars in trade transits every year.
But several ASEAN members -- the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei -- also have competing claims to various small islands and reefs.
Clashes at sea
The meeting with Li comes after a slew of violent clashes, particularly with the Philippines around the Spratly Islands.
Chinese coast guard and other vessels have rammed, water-cannoned and blocked Philippine government vessels.
And earlier this month, Vietnam issued an angry condemnation after some of its fishermen were attacked and robbed off the Paracel Islands by what it called "Chinese law enforcement forces".
Beijing responded that the islands are its sovereign territory and its personnel were taking action to stop "illegal fishing" by the Vietnamese.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Thursday and is expected to raise the South China Sea when he holds talks with ASEAN leaders on Friday.
Daniel Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia, accused China of taking "escalatory and irresponsible steps designed to coerce and pressure many in the South China Sea".
China has for years sought to expand its presence in contested areas of the South China Sea, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.
It has built artificial islands armed with missile systems and runways for fighter jets, and deployed vessels that the Philippines says harass its ships and block its fishers.
ASEAN leaders also met Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea on Thursday, and will hold a three-way summit with them and Li.