ANKARA: The world’s attention will on Thursday be focused on a meeting due to take place in Turkey’s southern resort town of Antalya at which the Turkish, Ukrainian, and Russian foreign ministers will discuss the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe and look at ways to defuse tensions and find middle ground for a peaceful resolution.
Sharing a maritime border with Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has long tried to act as a neutral and balanced mediator between the two countries by upgrading its importance to NATO and at the same time not antagonizing Russia.
Ankara also closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits under the 1936 Montreux pact, allowing it to stop some Russian ships from crossing the Black Sea but also limiting Western…