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Russia-Ukraine talks stall in Antalya, but dialogue ‘valuable,’ says expert

Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and Ukraine's FM Dmytro Kuleba attend Russia-Turkiye-Ukraine tripartite meeting in Antalya. (AFP)
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Updated 10 March 2022
MENEKSE TOKYAY
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Russia-Ukraine talks stall in Antalya, but dialogue ‘valuable,’ says expert

  • Turkey playing key role as facilitator after Erdogan highlights neutrality
Updated 10 March 2022
MENEKSE TOKYAY

ANKARA: Usually known for its sunny weather and popular tourist beaches, Antalya on Turkey’s southwest coast has become a focal point for peace talks between senior Ukrainian and Russian officials.

Two weeks after the Russian offensive began in Ukraine, the foreign ministers of both countries met on Thursday in the resort town, with the Turkish government acting as mediator on the margins of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

The tripartite meeting, the first high-level talks since the start of the conflict, came a day after Ukraine accused Russia of war crimes over airstrikes on a maternity hospital in the besieged port of Mariupol. Russia has claimed that the hospital served as a military base for the hard-line Azov Battalion and “other radicals.”

Delegations from the two countries have held three rounds of talks previously, in Belarus and Ukraine, but with no breakthrough.

The latest round of discussions in Antalya also appear to have made little progress, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba saying that no ceasefire agreement was reached.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba also failed to reach an agreement on humanitarian corridors or a ceasefire.

Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters: “There are many elements that Russia and Ukraine are debating, including neutrality. A comprehensive peace agreement is also on the table.”

Moscow's demands include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization and a guarantee that Kyiv will not join NATO. In response, Kyiv recently offered Ukrainian neutrality.

Ukraine’s foreign minister described the meeting as “difficult” and said that Moscow reverted to “traditional narratives.”

Lavrov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to talk about “particular issues,” adding: “I hope such a need will arise.”

Both countries underlined their willingness to continue using diplomatic channels in the future.

“There was a clear gap of expectation between Kuleba and Lavrov regarding the summit in Antalya,” Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, Ankara office director of the German Marshall Fund of the US, told Arab News.

“During the press meetings, which the two foreign ministers held separately, Kuleba said that they couldn’t reach an agreement on humanitarian corridors or a ceasefire,” he said.

“When a journalist asked Lavrov about the issue, Lavrov said they never aimed to reach an agreement on humanitarian corridors or ceasefire as those issues are being discussed in Belarus,” he added.

However, experts say that bringing together the two foreign ministers was an important step towards de-escalating tensions and reminding people of the power of diplomacy.

Turkey, which shares a maritime border with Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea, has tried to maintain a relatively neutral position during the conflict. It did not join Western sanctions against Russia, and offered to mediate peace talks while also condemning the invasion.

Turkey sees energy, trade, tourism and defense ties with Russia as important, but also values defense cooperation with Ukraine.

While Western sanctions have failed to halt the Russian offensive, Lavrov said that Moscow will no longer depend on Western companies, and will not try to persuade the West to buy oil and gas.

The UK recently issued new sanctions against seven Russian billionaires, and the International Monetary Fund approved $1.4 billion in emergency financing for Ukraine. The World Bank recently warned that sanctions have pushed Russia close to defaulting on loans.

Unluhisarcikli said that it was  “unclear” what Lavrov expected from the meeting, beyond a platform to make his case to a global audience.

He added: “Turkey’s role in this process was not that of a mediator, but that of a facilitator, limited to creating a platform for bringing the parties together, which Turkey did fulfill.”

According to a survey by Aksoy Research company, 78.2 percent of people think that Turkey should remain neutral in the war.

Ankara is facing a busy diplomacy schedule over the coming days.

Following a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Joe Biden on Thursday, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Turkey on March 13 and 14, respectively. The NATO secretary-general will also visit Erdogan on Friday.

“The message that the two parties sent out sticks to their usual playbook,” Francesco Siccardi, senior program manager at Carnegie Europe, told Arab News.

“Lavrov condemned the West for essentially provoking Russia into the war and said the Russian military was advancing as planned. Kuleba repeated that Ukraine would resist and not surrender. It was legitimate to expect some limited progress on humanitarian corridors, but the meeting in Antalya bore no concrete results. It’s clear that decisions are taken in the Kremlin.”

During the press meeting, Lavrov was asked whether Russia was planning to “attack other countries.” He replied: “We are not planning to attack other countries. We didn’t attack Ukraine in the first place.”

According to Siccardi, the parties will convene again and it is significant that the Russians have indicated this might happen in the future to discuss “specific issues.”

Turkey’s effort to facilitate talks “is valuable, even if the prospects for quick results are slim,” he said.

Samuel Ramani, associate fellow at the Royal United Service Institute, told Arab News: “Turkey’s international status within NATO was the only winner from the Russia-Ukraine talks.”

Ramani said that Turkey and Russia will benefit from their experiences in working together diplomatically. Both countries tried to deliver a ceasefire agreement in Libya in January 2020, and are co-guarantors of the Astana peace process in Syria.

Seckin Kostem, a Russia expert from Bilkent University in Ankara, said that Russia and Ukraine will most likely continue with the negotiations over the coming weeks.

“Temporary ceasefires can be accomplished, but it is unrealistic to expect a breakthrough in negotiations for a political settlement,” he told Arab News.

“Lavrov has reiterated the Kremlin’s demands from Ukraine, and in return, Kuleba demonstrated the Ukrainian government’s determination to continue resisting Russian occupation.”

Separately, on Thursday, Russia announced it would no longer attend the Council of Europe, days after the Strasbourg-based human rights body suspended Moscow’s rights of representation due to the Ukraine conflict, which has led to more than 2 million people fleeing the country.

On Saturday, Russia also released a list of “unfriendly” countries, including many members of the Council of Europe.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Russia Ukraine Turkey

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Daesh claims gun attack killing six in Afghan mosque

Updated 5 sec ago
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Daesh claims gun attack killing six in Afghan mosque

Updated 5 sec ago
HERAT: The Daesh group has claimed a gun attack on a minority Shiite mosque in western Afghanistan that killed six people on Monday.
Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said Tuesday morning that “an unknown armed person shot at civilian worshippers in a mosque” in Herat province’s Guzara district at around 9:00 p.m. (1630 GMT) the previous night.
“Six civilians were martyred and one civilian was injured,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Late Tuesday, the regional chapter of Daesh group claimed responsibility and said numerous gunmen had stormed the mosque with machine guns — contradicting the official account of a single assailant.
Locals said the mosque, located just south of provincial capital Herat, served the minority Shiite community and that an imam and a three-year-old child were among those killed.
They said a team of three gunmen had staged the attack.
“One of them was outside and two of them came inside the mosque, shooting the worshippers,” said 60-year-old Ibrahim Akhlaqi, the brother of the slain imam. “It was in the middle of prayers.”
“Whoever was in the mosque has either been martyred or wounded,” added 23-year-old Sayed Murtaza Hussaini.
Taliban authorities have frequently given death tolls lower than other sources after bombings and gun attacks, or otherwise downplayed them, in an apparent attempt to minimize security threats.
Daesh chapter
The regional chapter of Daesh is the largest security threat in Afghanistan and has frequently targeted Shiite communities.
The Taliban government has pledged to protect religious and ethnic minorities since returning to power in August 2021, but rights monitors say they’ve done little to make good on that promise.
The most notorious attack linked to Daesh since the Taliban takeover was in 2022, when at least 53 people — including 46 girls and young women — were slain in the suicide bombing of an education center.
Taliban officials blamed Daesh for the attack, which happened in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital Kabul.
Afghanistan’s new rulers claim to have ousted IS from the country and are highly sensitive to suggestions the group has found safe haven there since the withdrawal of foreign forces.
A United Nations Security Council report released in January said there had been a decrease in Daesh attacks in Afghanistan because of “counter-terrorism efforts by the Taliban.”
But the report said Daesh still had “substantial” recruitment in the country and that the militant group had “the ability to project a threat into the region and beyond.”
The Daesh chapter spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia claimed responsibility for the March attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow, killing more than 140 people.
It was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades.

UK local polls could determine PM Sunak’s fate

Updated 26 min 21 sec ago
AFP
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UK local polls could determine PM Sunak’s fate

  • The polls are the last major electoral test before a general election that Sunak’s party, in power since 2010, seems destined to lose to the Labour opposition
Updated 26 min 21 sec ago
AFP

London: Britain’s ruling Conservative party is expected to suffer heavy losses in crunch local elections this week that are likely to increase pressure on beleaguered Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The polls are the last major electoral test before a general election that Sunak’s party, in power since 2010, seems destined to lose to the Labour opposition.
Sunak has said he wants to hold the nationwide vote in the second half of the year, but bruising defeats in Thursday’s votes could force his hand earlier.
“These elections form a vital examination for the Sunak premiership — road-testing its claim that the plan is working and the degree to which voters still lend that notion any degree of credibility,” political scientist Richard Carr told AFP.
Incumbent governments tend to suffer losses in local contests and the Conservatives are forecast by pollsters to lose about half of the council seats they are defending.
Sunak’s immediate political future is said to rest on whether two high-profile Tory regional mayors get re-elected in the West Midlands and Tees Valley areas of central and northeast England.
Wins for the Conservative mayors, Andy Street and Ben Houchen, would boost hopes among Tory MPs that Sunak can turn around their party’s fortunes in time for the general election.
But speculation is rife in the UK parliament that a bad showing could lead some restive Conservative lawmakers to try to replace Sunak before the nationwide poll.
“If Andy Street and Ben Houchen both lose, any idea that Sunak can carry on is surely done,” said Carr, a politics lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University.
“Whether that means he rolls the dice on a general election or gets toppled remains to be seen.”
Factional infighting has plagued the Tories in recent years, serving up five prime ministers since the 2016 Brexit vote, including three in four months from July to October 2022.
A group of restive Conservative MPs have drawn up a “policy blitz” for a potential successor to Sunak in the event of massive losses this week, British media have reported.
Some observers say it would be madness for the Conservatives to topple another leader when Sunak has provided some stability since succeeding Liz Truss in October 2022.
Others say the party’s credibility is already shot so why not try one last desperate throw of the dice to try to stop a predicted Labour landslide.
Some 52 MPs would need to submit letters of no confidence in Sunak to trigger an internal party vote to replace him — a tall ask.
“I still expect Sunak will lead the Conservatives into the general election,” Richard Hayton, a politics professor at Leeds University, told AFP.
“But some MPs may seek to move against him, which will further damage his standing with the general public.”
Sunak, 43, was an internal Tory appointment following Truss’s disastrous 49 days premiership in which her unfunded tax cuts caused market turmoil and sank the pound.
Despite numerous leadership resets under Sunak, the Tories have continued to trail Labour, led by Keir Starmer, by double digits in most opinion polls.
An Ipsos poll earlier this month put Sunak’s satisfaction rating at a joint all-time low of minus 59 percent.
More than 2,500 councillors are standing in England on Thursday, as well as London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan who is seeking a record third term in office.
Most of the council seats up for re-election were last contested in 2021, when ex-Tory premier Boris Johnson was popular as he rolled out Covid-19 vaccines.

Topics: rishi sunak UK elections

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UN Human Rights Chief troubled by ‘heavy-handed’ action against protesters at US colleges

Updated 32 min 50 sec ago
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UN Human Rights Chief troubled by ‘heavy-handed’ action against protesters at US colleges

  • Volker Turk says ‘freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society, particularly when there is sharp disagreement on major issues’
  • Protests have taken place on campuses in several states as students demand colleges withdraw investments from businesses involved in Israel’s assault on Gaza
Updated 32 min 50 sec ago
Ephrem Kossaify

NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s high commissioner for human rights on Tuesday said he is troubled by “a series of heavy-handed steps” taken by education authorities and law enforcement officials to break up protests at college campuses in the US.
Volker Turk said: “freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society, particularly when there is sharp disagreement on major issues, as there are in relation to the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have spread across college campuses in Texas, New York, Atlanta, Utah, Virginia, New Jersey, California and other parts of the US as students protest against the death toll during the war in Gaza, call for a ceasefire and demand authorities at their colleges withdraw investments from businesses involved in Israel’s military assault on Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian protestors hold a rally outside of Columbia University in New York City on April 30, 2024. (AFP)

Though largely peaceful, at some locations the protests have been dispersed or dismantled by security forces. Hundreds of students and teachers have been arrested, some of whom face charges or academic sanctions.
Turk expressed concern that some of the responses by law enforcement authorities at several colleges might have been disproportionate, and called for such actions to be scrutinized to ensure they do not exceed what is necessary “to protect the rights and freedoms of others.”
He added that all such actions must be guided by human rights law, while “allowing vibrant debate and protecting safe spaces for all.”

Members of the NYPD set up a large perimeter around the Columbia University campus to clear pro-Palestinian demonstrators from a protest encampment in New York City on April 30, 2024. (AFP)

He reiterated that antisemitic, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian activities and speech are “totally unacceptable, deeply disturbing (and) reprehensible.” However, the conduct of protesters must be assessed and addressed individually rather than through “sweeping measures that impute to all members of a protest the unacceptable viewpoints of a few,” Turk added.
“Incitement to violence or hatred on grounds of identity or viewpoints, whether real or assumed, must be strongly repudiated. We have already seen such dangerous rhetoric can quickly lead to real violence.”

Philippines says Chinese coast guard elevating tensions in South China Sea

Updated 56 min 47 sec ago
Reuters
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Philippines says Chinese coast guard elevating tensions in South China Sea

  • Philippine officials have said a coast guard ship and a fisheries vessel were damaged when Chinese coast guard vessels fired water cannons at them
  • No country has sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing patch close to major shipping lanes that is used by several countries
Updated 56 min 47 sec ago
Reuters

MANILA: The Philippines on Wednesday accused China’s coast guard of elevating tensions in the South China Sea after two vessels suffered damage from water cannon use by Beijing, an official said.
Philippine officials have said a coast guard ship and a fisheries vessel were damaged when Chinese coast guard vessels fired water cannons at them while on their way to the disputed Scarborough shoal on Tuesday to help Filipino fishermen at sea.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine coast guard spokesperson on South China Sea matters, said their Chinese counterparts have elevated tensions after it directly used water cannon against one of its vessels for the first time.
“It just goes to show that Goliath is becoming more Goliath. They don’t hesitate to use brute force to violate international law,” Tarriela told a briefing.
China has previously used water cannons against Philippine navy-crewed civilian supply vessels in the region.
No country has sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing patch close to major shipping lanes that is used by several countries. The shoal falls inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and has been a constant source of flashpoint between it and China.
Tarriela added China’s actions do not count as an armed attack against a Philippine vessel, but he said China has been raising the pressure of its water cannons which have damaged their ships.
The Philippines has a longstanding mutual defense treaty with the United States and Washington has pledged its “ironclad commitment” to defending its ally against an armed attack on Filipino military and public vessels, including coast guard ships, anywhere in the South China Sea.
A spokesperson at China’s embassy in Manila said Scarborough shoal, which it calls Huangyan Dao, “has always been China’s territory” and urged the Philippines to “stop making infringement and provocations at once and not to challenge China’s resolve to defend our sovereignty.”
China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
An international tribunal in 2016 said China’s expansive claim had no legal basis, a decision Beijing has rejected.

Topics: South China Sea Philippines China

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Police arrest Columbia students, clear occupied building in campus unrest

Updated 13 min 5 sec ago
AFP
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Police arrest Columbia students, clear occupied building in campus unrest

  • Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry
  • The protests have posed a challenge to university administrators trying to balance free speech rights with complaints that the rallies have veered into anti-Semitism and hate
Updated 13 min 5 sec ago
AFP

New York: Dozens of helmeted police flooded Columbia University’s campus in the heart of New York City on Tuesday to evict a building occupied by pro-Palestinian student protesters and detain demonstrators.
Police climbed into Hamilton Hall via a second floor window they reached from a laddered truck, before leading handcuffed students out of the building into police vans.
The hall had been occupied at dawn by demonstrators who vowed they would fight any eviction, as they protested the soaring death toll from Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The action came as university administrators around the United States have struggled for weeks to contain pro-Palestinian demonstrations on dozens of campuses.
In a letter addressed to the New York Police department, Columbia University president Minouche Shafik said that the occupation of the school building was being led by “individuals who are not affiliated with the University” and asked “NYPD’s help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments.”
She also asked the police to remain on campus through at least May 17, “to ensure encampments are not reestablished.”
Writing on Instagram, the protests slammed Shafik’s statement, saying “her use of the words ‘care’ and ‘safety’ are nothing short of horrifying.”
The weeks of demonstrations — the most sweeping and prolonged unrest to rock US college campuses since the Vietnam war protests of the 1960s and 70s — have already led to several hundred arrests of students and other activists.
Many of them have vowed to maintain their actions despite suspensions and threats of expulsion.
Earlier, protesters at Columbia were seen using ropes to hoist crates of supplies up to the building’s second floor, apparently signaling the students had planned to hunker down.
President Joe Biden’s White House had sharply criticized the seizure of Hamilton Hall, with a spokesman saying it was “absolutely the wrong approach.”
“That is not an example of peaceful protest,” the spokesman added.
The protests, with Columbia at their epicenter, have posed a challenge to university administrators trying to balance free speech rights with complaints that the rallies have veered into anti-Semitism and hate.
The unrest has swept through US higher education institutions like wildfire, with many student protesters erecting tent encampments on campuses from coast to coast.
At Columbia, demonstrators have vowed to remain until their demands are met, including that the school divest all financial holdings linked to Israel.
The university has rejected the demand. Columbia has warned that students occupying the building face expulsion.
In one of the newest clashes, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, police moved in Tuesday to clear one encampment, detaining some protesters in a tense showdown.
Meanwhile at northern California’s Cal Poly Humboldt, a week-long occupation was brought to a dramatic end early Tuesday when police moved in to arrest nearly three dozen protesters who had seized buildings and forced the closure of the campus.
In Oregon, Portland State University’s campus was closed Tuesday “due to an ongoing incident” in the library, college authorities said, after local media reported around 50 protesters had broken into the building a day earlier.
And Brown University reached an agreement in which student protesters will remove their encampment in exchange for the institution holding a vote on divesting from Israel — a major concession from an elite American university during the protests.
Footage of police in riot gear summoned at various colleges has been viewed around the world.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk voiced concern at the heavy-handed steps taken to disperse the campus protests, saying “freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society.”
He added that “incitement to violence or hatred on grounds of identity or viewpoints — whether real or assumed — must be strongly repudiated.”
Shafik said many Jewish students had fled Columbia’s campus in fear. “Anti-Semitic language and actions are unacceptable,” she said.
The Gaza war started when Hamas militants staged an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that left around 1,170 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
During their attack, militants also seized hostages, 129 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 34 whom the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,535 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine Gaza US

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