Turkey ‘declares war’ on Russia during huge translation blunder in Putin meeting

Interpreter blunder leaves Turkey’s president ‘declaring war’ on Russia (Picture: Getty)

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appeared to accidentally declare war on Russia due to a translation blunder during a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

‘There is war between Russia and Turkey,’ the Turkish-Russian translator announced during a meeting between the two leaders at a summit in Sochi.

Turkey is a Nato state, and if true the declaration would plunge the entire world into war.

But Putin, who was there to discuss the Black Sea Grain deal, appeared nonplussed by the apparent blunder.

It was unclear if the male interpreter was Russian or Turkish, but the official record of the meeting showed it was the translator who made the mistake- not Erdogan.

‘The current situation between Ukraine and Russia….This is the backdrop of this visit,’ the Turkish president told Putin during his opening remarks.

‘And your invitation – we are glad to have received this invitation. My delegation is glad to have received this invitation.’

The summit had been called in order to broker a deal over the Black Sea grain initiative, which would supply food to the world’s poorest nations.

Putin told Erdogan that Russia is ready to supply up to one million tons of grain at a preferential price through Turkey, who it views as an intermediary between themselves and the west.

The meeting marked a rare visit for a foreign leader to Russia as Putin finds himself increasingly isolated over his bloody war with Ukraine.

In March, the dictator was issued an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over war crimes committed in Ukraine, which makes it difficult for him to travel abroad.

It is believed the translation error was the interpreter’s fault (Picture: East2West)

Some say holding the summit in Sochi was a response to this, while others claim it is a cover for Putin’s long-rumoured health problems.

Putin used his press conference to claim he had been cheated by the West over the grain export deal across the Black Sea, and restated Russia’s position that it could only return to the deal if the West stopped restricting Russian agricultural exports from reaching global markets.

‘As usual… it often happens this way with our Western partners, they cheated on us again,’ said the dictator. ‘And didn’t do as promised – again.’

A separate memorandum agreed with the United Nations calls for conditions to facilitate Russia’s food and fertiliser exports.

Erdogan said Ukraine should soften its negotiating position against Russia in talks over reviving the deal and export more grain to Africa rather than Europe.

‘Ukraine needs to especially soften its approaches in order for it to be possible for joint steps to be taken with Russia,’ he told reporters.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, speaking later on Ukrainian television, said Kyiv would not alter its stand, but would take note of Turkey’s account of the Sochi talks.

‘We should not continue to be hostages to Russian blackmail, where Russia creates problems and then invites everyone to solve them,’ Kuleba said.

‘It is clear that we will stand in defence of all principled positions, especially regarding sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation.’

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The two leaders were discussing the Black Sea Grain Inititiative during a summit in Russia.