Turkey plays with fire every time it tries to sit Russia and Ukraine at the same table and this Thursday it got burned. Deputies from both countries have come to blows in two different incidents in Ankara, during the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Cooperation Organization. In one, Ukrainian representatives have loudly boycotted the intervention of the Russian delegate, Olga Timofeeva, while displaying a Ukrainian flag. The president of the Turkish Parliament, Mustafa Sentop, who was also presiding over the session, ended the struggle and called both sides to order, sternly reminding them of the solemnity required
Later, another Ukrainian deputy attempted to display a Ukrainian flag on the dais, but a Russian delegate intervened to snatch it from him and carry it out of the room. Immediately afterwards, the Ukrainian deputy took over the flag again, but not before punching the Russian representative, who had to go to a hospital, according to Russian agencies.
The Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization brings together the six states bordering the Black Sea and seven other neighboring countries. It was founded in Istanbul in 1993 by Türkiye and Russia. In last year’s edition, held in Serbia, there were already riots over Ukraine’s boycott of the Russian delegation, in protest at the invasion of its territory. Russia reacted by suspending its financial contribution to the organization.
“We trust that the aggressors will be punished,” said the spokeswoman for the Russian embassy in Turkey. She was not referring, of course, to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, but to the storm in a teacup in Ankara.
The brawl this Thursday should not prevent technicians from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN from meeting in Istanbul tomorrow, Friday, in pursuit of an extension of the grain transit agreement through the Black Sea and the Turkish Straits. The expectations are good, according to the Turkish side, which foresees an agreement at the ministerial level before the current one expires, in mid-May.