In brief

• Turkish President Erdogan and US President Trump spoke by phone on November 7 about the war in Ukraine and US-Iran tensions.
• According to the Turkish presidency, Erdogan urged diplomacy on Iran and said Turkey would keep helping peace efforts.
• The Iran appeal comes from the Turkish side; the Russian propaganda outlet moscow-baku.ru repeated it, but it is not independently confirmed.

Call on Ukraine and Iran

Turkey's president held a phone conversation with the American leader on Saturday, November 7, and the Turkish presidential office said Erdogan voiced hope that diplomatic efforts to halt Russia's war in Ukraine would produce results, pledging that Ankara would keep helping. He also stressed the importance of expanding contacts with both Kyiv and Moscow (Ердоган обговорив з Трампом війну в Україні та закликав до дипломатичного вирішення конфлікту з Іраном – Espreso) (Трамп обговорив з Ердоганом закінчення війни в Україні: Туреччина пообіцяла сприяння – UNIAN) (Ердоган поговорив із Трампом про завершення війни: яку роль пропонує Туреччина – TSN).

Iran tensions

According to the Turkish presidency's account, Erdogan also urged an end to the standoff between Iran and the United States and said the disputes should be handled through diplomacy. Turkish broadcaster Haberler.com reported the same appeal (Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, İran ile ABD arasındaki gerilimin sona ermesi ve sorunların diplomasi yoluyla çözülmesi gerektiğini belirterek, Türkiye olarak barış için ... – haberler.com) (Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan'dan Trump'a kritik çağrı: Diplomasi şart! – yirmidort.tv). The Russian outlet moscow-baku.ru, which is classed as propaganda media, carried the remarks too (Эрдоган призвал положить конец конфликту США и Ирана дипломатическим путем – moscow-baku.ru). Its version is not confirmed by non-propaganda reporting in the material reviewed, so the specific Iran wording should be treated as coming from the Turkish side only and not independently verified.

Bilateral agenda

The Turkish presidency said the leaders also discussed bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States, along with regional and global events. Erdogan said he expected cooperation between the two countries to keep growing and that both sides would work to speed it up.

Context

Turkey has repeatedly offered itself as a venue for talks between Ukraine and Russia. Earlier, Erdogan discussed with Volodymyr Zelensky the possible involvement of Turkey and European partners in negotiations, and a trilateral format involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia was planned for the first half of November.

Read also

• Erdogan says Turkey ready to help restart Ukraine-Russia peace talks