Ankara Summit May Put Zelensky, Ukraine Back at Center of NATO Talks
Veteran Turkish diplomat Ümit Yardım says Ukraine will be one of the main topics at NATO’s July summit in Ankara, alongside the Middle East crisis, and questions over the US role in the alliance.
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Ukraine will be one of the main issues at NATO’s July summit in Ankara, veteran Turkish diplomat Ümit Yardım told Kyiv Post in an interview.
Yardım, who served as Turkey’s ambassador to Russia and Iran, said this is especially true as Kyiv has asked Turkey to host a potential meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday that Kyiv had asked Turkey to host such a meeting, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that Ankara was working to revive direct negotiations.
“Of course, Ukraine will be one of the most important topics, certainly, but not the only one.”
“It will be an issue, because it is not a matter of the US [mediating] only. I mean, in strategic papers, Ukraine is always one of the dominant topics of NATO strategy. So everybody will be discussing it.”
Yardım suggested that Zelensky could appear at the Turkey summit even though Ukraine is not a NATO member.
“One way or another, Mr. Zelensky can make an appearance in Turkey during those days, so we have to see.”
For Yardım, the Ankara summit will unfold in a dramatically different international atmosphere from the last time Turkey hosted a NATO summit in 2004. He pointed to NATO enlargement, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, changes in the Middle East and South Caucasus, and a broader evolution in NATO’s mission.
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He argued that Ukraine is only one part of a much more crowded summit agenda.
“Ukraine, Middle East crisis, NATO-US relations, the place of the US in NATO, transatlantic relations – all these are issues, and I think these are more than enough for leaders to discuss, because each of them is a real challenge for the future of NATO.”
Turkey struggles to balance NATO and Russia
In Yardım’s view, Ankara has long tried to preserve working relations with both NATO and Russia, even as it has maintained diplomatic contacts with both Kyiv and Moscow since the start of the full-scale war.
Yardım said that balancing act is growing more difficult by the day.
“Turkey is trying to balance its policy between NATO and Russia. And I don’t think this policy may be a sort of long-lasting.”
“Every day it is becoming a little harder to balance relations with Russia and Turkey’s status as a member of NATO.”
That tension, he said, is one reason Ankara is eager to host alliance leaders this summer.
“Turkey wants to establish itself as an actor, which it used to be.”
He also argued that some unresolved tensions remain between Turkey and its Western partners, including over Turkey’s place in Europe’s defense architecture and the unfinished political expectations that accompanied NATO enlargement.
Trump and the transatlantic question
Yardım said the most important strategic issue at the summit may ultimately be neither Ukraine nor the Middle East, but the future of transatlantic relations under US President Donald Trump. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said last week that any US withdrawal from Europe’s security architecture could be “very destructive,” and urged allies to use the July summit in Ankara to reset ties with Washington.
Yardım described a “strange dynamic” now shaping the alliance.
“What will be the relations between the US and other NATO members, mostly European members?”
“I think this will be maybe the most important one because we are living in a period where, even if not politically, then at least from a rhetorical point of view, the US is discussing withdrawal from NATO.”
He said Trump’s attendance at the summit remains uncertain.
“I don’t have a feeling that President Trump is very enthusiastic to participate.”
Still, he cautioned that the picture could shift quickly in the months before July.
“Today we are still four months away from July. So nobody knows how the relations will go.”
Yardım added that Erdoğan would almost certainly want Trump in Turkey, whether through the summit itself or in a parallel political push.
“I think President Erdogan may push for inviting President Trump to Turkey in the context of such an important summit.”
Turkey unlikely to join any Hormuz patrol mission
Asked about reports that Rutte could discuss a multinational structure led by France and the UK for security in the Strait of Hormuz, Yardım was skeptical both about the idea itself and any possible Turkish participation.
“I don’t have any feeling that it will be realized.”
He argued that such a move would sharply worsen regional tensions because Iran would oppose any external structure in waters it sees as strategically central.
“Iran will very much oppose the presence of such a structure. I don’t think that Turkey will be part of it. It’s impossible under these circumstances.”
For Yardım, Hormuz is part of a wider Middle Eastern crisis that goes far beyond one French-British proposal and intersects directly with US policy, Iranian calculations, and the region’s broader security order.
Rutte’s April 21-22 visit to Ankara offered an early preview of the themes likely to dominate the summit. During the trip, he met Erdoğan and visited ASELSAN, where he praised Turkey’s defense industry and said ramping up joint defense production would be one of the key subjects at the Ankara summit.
Sevinj Osmanqizi is a journalist covering US foreign policy, security, and geopolitics, with a focus on the broader post-Soviet space. She reports on Washington’s decision-making and its implications for Ukraine and regional stability.
