Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Turkey is in contact with all parties to the crisis in Gaza, and that efforts are underway to facilitate a ceasefire, humanitarian aid and a possible exchange of prisoners, reports Anadolu.
In an interview with TRT Haber, Fidan talked about the latest developments in the Middle East region.
“We believe that the Islamic world can play an important role to pull humanity out of this spiral if it uses the necessary diplomatic platforms,” Fidan said.
He emphasized the importance of the Palestinian issue for Turkey and stated that the crisis that began on October 7 is very worrying.
He described the October 7 crisis as “a crisis that many relevant circles saw coming but glossed over.”
“The attacks by Hamas that began on October 7 are actually proof of the mistakes of Israel’s policy in the region, especially in the last ten years. Although Israel has shown the weaknesses of the national security system that it has developed for itself, it has also shown that the structure and system that it tried to established, mainly through diplomacy, an actually unsuccessful project,” said Fidan.
Fidan pointed out that Turkey considers only Israel’s attempt to achieve peace with its neighbors and not accepting the two-state solution with the Palestinians as a strategic mistake.
“We knew that this crisis would erupt somewhere, because even though some things seemed to be progressing with the Abraham Agreement, we essentially saw that oppression and violence against Palestinians became more systematic, widespread and frequent,” said Fidan.
He pointed out that Israel suffered great losses on October 7 and found compensation for that loss in “revenge, not peace.”
“While carrying out this revenge, he did not pay attention to the civilian population, he bombed their infrastructure and chose the method of collective punishment. The position we have taken as a state is to define this as a crisis without any mitigating circumstances or excuses, to describe it as a crime against of humanity and to take a stand against it”, added Fidan.
Fidan noted that Israel has described certain areas from north to south of Gaza as “areas to be evacuated” and has designated this as a war strategy.
“Accordingly, he participated in the widespread bombing. Currently, most of the places where the civilian population lives, especially in the north, have been bombed. More than a million people have gone to the south,” said Fidan.
He pointed out that Turkiye is trying to be in contact with all parties involved in the crisis, and that it is carrying out activities that facilitate the end of the crisis in Gaza through a ceasefire, humanitarian aid and the exchange of prisoners.
Fidan pointed out that it is necessary to establish a framework that will guarantee security and lasting peace in the region.
“However, the Americans have now become partners in Israel’s efforts to achieve its military goals in Gaza. When we look at the assessments and statements of the US president, national security officials and military authorities, we see that America is in full agreement to work together with Israel and provide support, especially in operations against Gaza and operations against Hamas,” said Fidan.
Fidan stated that Israel received unconditional support from America and the West, and that the countries in the region that want to show their true position have been under pressure for years.
He pointed out that many countries in the region cannot show their true attitude towards Palestine.
“The reason for this is that every country has its own serious problems, political problems, economic problems, security problems and they are in some kind of interaction with the West and America on this issue”.
As he said, the Islamic world is in a “spiral of despair”.
“We believe that we must get out of this spiral. We believe that if the Islamic world uses diplomatic platforms, it can act as an actor to pull humanity out of this spiral,” said Fidan.
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