A taxi driver says yes. Believe it or not, a taxi driver told my wife, when she was returning from her university graduation event last night, that he had been told by the police that Putin is meeting Zelensky in Ankara on July 9th, immediately following the NATO gathering here in the city on July 7th-8th.
It is, of course, an unsubstantiated rumour. But perhaps interesting. I have seen no sign of such a thing in the British press, so let’s break a story.
Since I am Mycroft not Sherlock, I asked the WWW for confirmation and found only the following
- On July 4th, according to a Kremlin source, Trump had 90 minute call with Putin “during which the US leader offered to help find a solution to the Ukraine war”. Zelensky also said he had spoken to Trump.
- On June 27th the Turkish Foreign Minister “announced that Turkey is ready to host delegations from Ukraine and Russia for a new round of peace negotiations”.
- As far back as April the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said, “Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready for a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey.”
- And Turkey has been offering to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine for several years.
- We know Zelensky will be here. On May 22nd Mark Rutte said he had invited Zelensky.
- On the other hand, Michael Fallon says Russia is not ready for peace talks.
- And Zelensky took to social media on June 25th to announce a new drone surge to “compel” Russia to negotiate for peace, which sounds like a desperate way of opening peace talks.
- And the press only reports as likely “bilateral” talks between Trump and Zelensky.
So toss a coin. Perhaps it is true. Perhaps it is not. Perhaps it was true, but is no longer. Perhaps it is false, but will be true later.
That’s it. The rest is the disruption to ordinary life in Ankara. Roads are closed; no one can park in supermarkets or universities; the classes of my summer course are now online; some opposition politicians complain about the fact that roads have been pothole-fixed only in anticipation of foreign dignitaries coming and not for ordinary citizens; local hotels are full of American secret service dudes; American snipers have already chosen their shoot-spots from the tops of local skyscrapers; all demonstrations, protests, posters, leaflets are banned for the duration; motorcycle couriers and scooters are banned from certain roads; taxi drivers have been told to wear grey trousers, white shirt, smile at foreigners and offer them cologne, lokum (that’s Turkish delight) and cool water; concrete mixers and heavy tonnage vehicles are banned from the city; Macron has been allocated three parks for his morning constitutional; I daresay Trump’s team have already established the routes from the Marriott to the local McDonald’s for his morning constitutional; the only heavy vehicles allowed in will be bringing food, but only along certain roads (so they are not going to starve us); a new airport was built, and special smooth roads built to transport the dignitaries around; ordinary roads with ugly buildings have been covered up; flowers and trees have been planted; there are tens of thousands of policemen being brought in from all over Turkey to help; and four policemen were found who can ride horses since it is known that foreigners are impressed by mounted police: and these have been videoed all over the city amusing small children. In short, much disruption, though the good news is that no limits have been placed on the three or four people who get around this vast city on foot.
My apologies. I suppose I am ‘Our Man in Ankara’. And Ankara is where things are going on. But I have no idea what is going on. The British Embassy barely knows I exist. Keir Starmer has not yet told me he urgently wants to meet me while he is here to ask my advice. But no matter. For the world’s press is arriving here, too, soon. So they’ll all be scooping the hell out of the whole scenario. Let’s see.
James Alexander is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Bilkent University in Turkey.
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“If Kostiantynivka were currently under Russian control, then surely Putin would have no problem meeting me there and finding diplomatic solutions to finally end the war,”
Russian forces have infiltrated into but not seized Kostyantynivka.
Putin’s…claims…come as the Trump administration is increasingly speaking publicly about Ukrainian successes on the battlefield, including about Ukraine’s intermediate- and long-range strike campaigns against Russian military assets and energy infrastructure and tactical Ukrainian advances in several frontline sectors in Winter and Spring 2026…
Hey James very interesting description of Ankara. I didn’t know it’s a vast city. Would love to see you writing on daily life there. Reading between the lines it’s pretty good?
I am not sure why Vladimir would want talks at the moment given the fall of Konstantinovka and the advance to the final strongholds of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in Donetsk.
Instead of this pretty pointless speculation, why doesn’t the DS report on Richard Tice being threatened mob style by a NI MP for poking his nose into a multi million pound UK government contract awarded for training Lebanese police?
It’s not speculation. He spoke about it in parliament.
Oh good. I hope “Our Man in Ankara” will ask the Turks nicely to nab The Tiny Tatar & Zelensky the Weasel, replace them with General Valerii Zaluzhyni & Yulia Navalnaya, end The Meatgrinder War immediately, and send all the troops back home.
There is no way that Navalny’s widow would find any acceptance in Russia. He was actually only ever a minor politician despite the hysteria about him over here.
That’s for the Russian People to decide.
Only if someone backs her as a possible leader of their party. The Navalny name is toxic with a large proportion of Russian people, so which party leader would stand aside in her favour?
No.
Putin has stated on a number of occasions in the past that he doesn’t recognise Zelensky as a legitimate leader of the country and will only speak to the Leader of the Verhovna Rada. I suspect that given the attacks by Ukraine in recent months that even that offer is no longer open.
I think I should have said Speaker of the parliament.
I doubt it too.