Turkey continues to talk about the success of negotiations for the export of Ukrainian grain, during which a consensus was reached to create an operational center.

Fahrettin Altun, head of the Turkish presidential administration's liaison office, told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero about this in an interview.

He said Turkey is trying to establish contacts between the parties rather than playing the role of mediator.

"We have taken on the role of mediator, and contacts resulted in a consensus to establish an operations center in Istanbul. We hope that the ships laden with grain will be withdrawn as soon as possible. We attach great importance to the safe execution of this process and the prevention of any accidents," Altun said.

He also noted that the Turkish government is "cautiously optimistic" about the prospects for exporting grain from Ukraine.

As a reminder, earlier Turkey announced about successful negotiations with Russia to unblock Ukrainian sea ports.

However, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry responded that agreements for quadrilateral talks had not been reached yet.