On Tuesday, February 27, the Atlantic Council IN TURKEY & Turkey Programs Center and Eurasia Center organized a discussion on Türkiye’s role in the region as Ukraine continues its efforts to de-occupy Crimea while fighting back against the unprovoked full-scale Russian aggression.

February 26 marks the tenth anniversary of Russia’s temporary occupation of Crimea back in 2014, which has paved the way to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine eight years later, on February 24, 2022. Türkiye was among the first countries to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and call for international action to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty over the peninsula. Since then, Ankara has increased political and military cooperation with Kyiv, co-sponsored UN resolutions condemning the occupation, backed Ukraine’s efforts (including the Crimea Platform) to de-occupy Crimea and maintained attention on the problems of the human rights violations and persecution of Crimean Tatars on the temporarily occupied peninsula.