Poroshenko meets with Erdogan in Kyiv:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has held talks with his visiting Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The two presidents were scheduled to chair a session of the Turkey-Ukraine High-Level Strategic Council in Kyiv on October 9.
Erdogan's press service has said that the Turkish president will also meet with the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Andriy Parubiy, and Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman.
It also said bilateral relations and regional matters would be discussed during Erdogan's one-day official visit and that a number of bilateral documents will be signed.
Erdogan's office said that the sides will also exchange views "on the Crimean issue and the situation of Crimean Tatar."
Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegal by dozens of countries, and backs separatists in a war that has killed more than 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
Rights groups and Western governments have also denounced what they called a persistent campaign of oppression targeting Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatars and other citizens who opposed Moscow's takeover.
Talking to Poroshenko last month at the UN General Assembly in New York, Erdogan reiterated that Ankara supported Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Refat Chubarov, chairman of the Crimea Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, told RFE/RL on October 9 that one of the reasons why Ankara had not joined the European Union in imposing sanctions against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine is that European leaders have been dragging their feet over Turkey's bid to join the bloc.
"Turkey is against Russia's activities [in Crimea].... However, to my mind, the issue is linked to the fact that for decades Turkey has been trying to join the European Union as a full-fledged member. But the EU has always found reasons to reject the bid. And now Turkey is reacting to that," Chubarov said.
This ends our live blogging for October 9. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.