Turkey‘s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, warned of an imminent escalation in the Middle East following recent missile strikes by Iran, which late yesterday launched a new attack, this time on the positions of a terrorist organisation in Pakistan. Fidan believes that these actions, together with tensions in the Red Sea related to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, foreshadow an escalation of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
“What is happening in the Red Sea, in Iraq and in Syria is a prelude that the war spiral that started in Gaza will turn into a much bigger vortex,” Fidan said yesterday during a joint press conference in Ankara with his Croatian counterpart, recalling that he himself had previously predicted that the war between Israel and Hamas could lead to “a bigger war, or a bigger peace”.
In this sense, the Turkish foreign minister again criticised those countries – without naming them, but in clear reference to the US and the UK – whose actions seem to seek to increase tensions in the region; on the contrary, Fidan stressed that Turkey’s attitude since the beginning of the war in Gaza has been to seek a ceasefire and a lasting peace by resorting to all possible diplomatic channels. “We will continue to work for peace at full speed, and we will make every effort to ensure that the massacres committed by Israel find a political and judicial response in the international community,” he said.
Despite the escalation of war in the Middle East and the “de facto support” for tensions by several powers, Turkey’s foreign minister was somewhat optimistic about a possible negotiated solution. “The idea that a two-state solution is fundamental to end this crisis is accepted by virtually everyone,” he said. By contrast, “approaches that only prioritise Israel’s interests and that put aside the security and sovereignty of the Palestinians will not bring peace, but will create a region in permanent crisis in the long term”, he added.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
