Türkiye's peace proposal to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine

On April 11, Turkey released a new plan to improve the conditions facing Russia and Ukraine as a result of their prolonged conflict.

A proposition that presumes to be a mechanism that allows the international sphere to take efficient measures with the objective of promoting peace and achieving stability in the region through the peaceful resolution of disputes, but which, in turn, has placed Turkey as one of the main mediators in the region in this long-lasting conflict.

Türkiye as mediator of the region

This is not the first time that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey, has proposed at the international level a plan to stabilize the Eurasian region. Months since the start of the conflict in February 2022, Turkey has dedicated itself to offering a space in which, through mechanisms of International Law, States in conflict can meet to maintain dialogue and reach a peace agreement, however, Despite the lack of response from Russia on severe occasions, [Turkey has announced a new initiative](https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2024/04/15/mundo/turquia-propósito- 201cfreeze201d-16-year-old-the-conflict-between-russia-and-ukraine-2227#:~:text=Turkey%C3%ADa%20proposed%20%E2%80%9Cfreeze%E2%80%9D%2016%20a %C3%B1os%20the%20conflict%20between%20Russia%20and%20Ukraine,-Buildings%20destroyed%20during&text=Moscow%C3%BA.,%2C%20and%20Ukrainian%2C%20Volodymir%20Zelensky.) to establish an immediate halt to the fire in the war in Ukraine, which focuses on freezing the conflict for 16 years and resolving it until the year 2040.

One more step towards peace: What does Turkey's new peace plan propose?

The plan, which has been based on previous negotiations carried out in 2022, sets out in its text a series of conditions, which according to Turkey, are necessary to reduce the tensions of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and be able to get closer. at the end of said conflict.

Among the series of proposals to achieve peace and maintain regional order, the prohibition of interference in internal affairs by any other foreign country that in some way could destabilize the government, the implementation of a **referendum ** throughout Ukraine to evaluate the course of the country's foreign and domestic policy as well as the administration of the territories annexed by Russia, the exchange of prisoners of war under the formula "all for all" and, for Lastly, freeze the war along the front line where the respective troops are established, an initiative based on the model of the Korean War.[¹]

On the other hand, Turkey proposes the declaration of Ukraine as a Non-Aligned Country until the year 2040, a concept that emerged within the framework of the Cold War with the objective of establishing the neutral position of some countries in the face of a predominant bipolar system.

The current rivalry between Russia and the United States since the Cold War has accentuated the creation of alliances, and the fact that Ukraine is more prone to the search and establishment of a democracy, as well as the strengthening of its close relations with the West, has fragmented its relations with Russia. Therefore, taking into account the previous argument, Turkish President Erdogan, in the text encourages Russia to not oppose Ukraine's accession to the European Union, but making it clear that Ukraine cannot belong. to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Finally, a crucial point, the establishment of a mutual commitment between Russia and the United States regarding the prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances, as well as a renewal of the SALT The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, with the impossibility of unilateral withdrawal in the future.

The [SALT]( https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/salt#:~:text=On%20June%2017,%201979,%20Carter,strategic%20nuclear%20forces,%20including%20MIRVs .) is an agreement that was born as a result of a series of bilateral conferences between the United States and, at that time, the Soviet Union, who, with the aim of curbing tensions during the context of the Cold War, established limitations regarding the possession of nuclear arsenal, multiple and independent reentry vehicles, and in general, the use of any nuclear force.

However, in February of this year, after Joe Biden's visit to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his government's withdrawal from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, New START, an agreement that was born under the influence of precedents. such as SALT and START The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

New START, like its predecessors, limits the number of long-range strategic nuclear warheads that both countries can deploy, but to a lower quantity (1,550 nuclear warheads per power), and also grants permits for inspections between both nuclear powers. .

Both SALT and both versions of START were designed to prevent a nuclear war, and the fact that Russia refuses to be a party to international legal instruments that regulate the exercise of war only increases international uncertainty, leaving the system is regulated by a series of doctrines that prevent conflict, but do not ensure its prohibition.

The fact that Erdogan has added this point as part of his plan to strengthen world peace around the present conflict is a key and strategic point that will determine the future of International Relations, at a time where the signs of a possible nuclear war, They are not impossible.

Turkish peace formula: an addition to the list of denied projects

“Peace in Ukraine is impossible without Russian participation” declares Erdogan, who in turn has mentioned that Turkey is ready to accept peace talks between Ukraine and Russia when they are in appropriate conditions to maintain a dialogue - the first step to reach an agreement-.

However, on different occasions the international community has witnessed how various proposed peace formulas have been shelved, since the creation of a United Nations committee for peace in Ukraine made up of the president of India and Pope Francis, a initiative proposed by Mexico before the United Nations General Assembly, the ten-point peace formula announced by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy before the G-20 summit in November 2022, until the announcement of a new peace plan around the international security presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland on January 14, 2024.

Taking the above into account, different actors in the international community consider that in any case, it is unlikely that the document proposed by Turkey will be adopted, since despite presenting balanced proposals, mention is made of different non-negotiable measures, especially for Ukraine, thus becoming part of the list of projects rejected in the face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict for a more peaceful world.