As Israel and Iran respond to each other’s attacks, which started with Israel’s coordinated strikes across Iran on Friday, Iran’s neighbor and Israel’s chief critic, Türkiye, remains concerned. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan coordinates the response to the developments in the region through intensive phone diplomacy. Erdoğan held talks with leaders from U.S. President Donald Trump to Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian since the attacks and convened a security meeting at the Presidential Complex on Saturday.

Türkiye adheres to its stance that Israel is a primary threat to the region, especially in light of its expansionist policies. Ankara advocates that Israel was emboldened by the inaction of the international community and spread its conflict with the Palestinians to a wider region. This stance was evident in Erdoğan’s talks over the weekend.

Erdoğan told his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, that Türkiye sees nuclear negotiations as the only way to resolve the Israel-Iran conflict, the president’s office said.

According to a statement by his office, Erdoğan told Trump over the phone that Türkiye supports the U.S. view that nuclear negotiations should continue to resolve the dispute and Ankara's readiness "to do everything it can to prevent uncontrolled escalation of the tension."

The two leaders discussed the Israel-Iran conflict and regional and global issues, according to the Turkish Presidency's Directorate of Communications. President Erdoğan said Türkiye is closely monitoring the tension between Iran and Israel, adding that it sees talks over Iran's nuclear program as "the only way" to resolve the dispute. He "expressed support for the U.S. position that nuclear negotiations should continue to resolve the issue." Trump has also urged Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program before it is too late. However, the sixth round of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington which was scheduled for Sunday in Muscat was canceled.

'Devastating war'

Erdoğan also warned against a "devastating war" that could trigger a refugee crisis, in a series of calls to regional leaders, his office added. Speaking to his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, Erdoğan said that Israel was seeking "to drag the whole region into the fire," according to a statement from the Turkish Presidency. This viewpoint echoes Türkiye’s earlier concern about Israel’s expansionist policies after Israeli security forces targeted Lebanon and killed the Hezbollah leaders in a series of attacks and assassinations.

To Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Erdoğan said: "Our region cannot tolerate another crisis, and a devastating war could create waves of irregular migration toward all the countries in the region." Türkiye already hosts millions of Syrians, who fled their civil war, as well as Iranians seeking lives away from their country's authoritarian rulers. The influx has created political tensions in Türkiye.

Erdoğan told Saudi Arabia's prince that Israel needed "to be stopped," calling it "the main threat to stability and security in the region," the statement from the Presidency said. The issue of Iran's nuclear program "can only be resolved through negotiations," he added. "The fact that the international community has closed its eyes to the occupation and genocide in Palestine has led Israel to this level of flouting the law and its aggression," Erdoğan was quoted as saying.

In talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Erdoğan said the cycle of violence caused by Israel threatens the region, emphasizing the importance of Syria staying out of the conflict. The Turkish president stressed the need for heightened vigilance against terrorist groups and radical elements in the current climate of Israeli aggression. Syria already faces an Israeli threat as the latter made an incursion into the country following the fall of the Assad regime last December and seized parts of the Golan Heights between the two countries. Israel also continued bombings of several locations within Syria after al-Sharaa-led forces toppled the Assad regime.

Erdoğan also spoke with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

He told Egypt's el-Sissi that Israel's attacks "seriously" harm regional security and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lawlessness threatens global stability, Türkiye's communications directorate said on X. Erdoğan said the Netanyahu government's disregard for international law poses a global threat to stability.

Stressing that the region cannot afford another crisis, Erdoğan warned that Israel is trying to derail efforts for a nuclear deal with Iran. He underlined the importance of continuing the talks, which are mediated by Oman, and urged that Israel's attacks on Iran should not be allowed to overshadow the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

In talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Erdoğan warned that Israel's attacks on Iran constitute a provocation that could seriously harm the region's security, stressing that "the aggressive and lawless stance" of Israel and the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu creates a global issue for stability and security. Noting that the global community's silence on the occupation and genocide in Palestine has enabled Israel's aggression to escalate to this level, Erdoğan said these attacks undermine efforts to resolve the issue over Iran's nuclear program. Any potential nuclear leakage resulting from Israel's strikes threatens civilians as well as regional and global health – an issue Israel is disregarding, he added. Stressing that the region cannot tolerate another crisis, President Erdoğan said continuing nuclear talks is the only way to resolve the conflict. The Turkish leader also urged that these attacks should not overshadow the Palestinian cause.

Silence over occupation and genocide in Palestine has empowered Israel's actions in Iran, Erdoğan told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a phone call, said Türkiye's communications directorate on X.

Israel's attacks on Iran are "unacceptable," he said, adding the attacks have seriously damaged regional security, Tel Aviv poses a threat to global stability and security, he warned. He also noted that the attacks by Israel undermine efforts to resolve Iran's nuclear program. He highlighted the importance of not allowing Israel to use these attacks to overshadow the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that the two agreed that "Israel's unprovoked aggression against Iran" was "a blatant violation of international law and a threat to regional peace."

On Sunday, Erdoğan held a phone call with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said. The president and the sultan discussed the conflict, as well as regional and global issues, media reports said.

Also on Saturday, Erdoğan chaired a security meeting.

At the meeting, the conflict sparked by Israel's attacks was thoroughly discussed from all angles, the Presidency's Directorate of Communications said.

The session addressed the impact of Israeli attacks on regional and global security, along with Türkiye's possible contingency measures.

"The security meeting addressed Israel's expanding aggression, diplomatic efforts to end the conflicts, the attacks' global and regional security impacts, necessary measures and Türkiye's preparations for potential developments," the communications directorate said.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, head of the intelligence organization Ibrahim Kalın and Ömer Çelik, spokesperson for Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) were among the officials who attended the meeting.

In the aftermath of Israel’s attacks on Iran on Friday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a similar meeting with Kalın and Güler and stated that Israel must immediately abandon its strategy to destabilize the region. In a post on X after the four-hour security meeting, Fidan said that Ankara had been in close contact with the U.S., Iran, Iraq and Jordan. He added that Türkiye had taken necessary measures at the highest level against regional security risks.

Media outlets reported that Türkiye has been monitoring the activity of Israeli warplanes since the first attack, and authorities regularly briefed Erdoğan on the developments. After the attacks on Iran, Fidan talked with his counterparts in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon about the situation. The countries reportedly agreed to share information directly about the developments.

Türkiye maintains good ties with Iran, while its relations with Israel sharply deteriorated after the renewed Palestine-Israel conflict in 2023, at a time of debate on whether to normalize ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv, which was harmed by Israel’s aggression targeting Palestinians, particularly Gaza, in the past.

Iranian influx denied

Another fallout of the conflict may be an influx of Iranians fleeing the attacks, as speculated on Turkish social media. Though this might be true if the conflict escalates and forces the displacement of Iranians, Türkiye denied claims that a wave of migrants is heading to Türkiye already. The Presidency's Directorate of Communication's Center for Countering Disinformation said in a recent statement that the reports were untrue and aimed to disseminate disinformation. The center noted that the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of migration, confirmed no unusual activity on the Turkish-Iranian border, nor a change in the pace of irregular migration on the border, which is usually a route for irregular migrants traveling from Asian countries like Afghanistan.

The center said the border is monitored around the clock by security forces utilizing high technology, from thermal cameras to optical towers. "Reports (of the influx) likely aim to stir up speculations, particularly to promote xenophobia and fuel destabilization. Our citizens should not heed such content of disinformation and pay attention only to statements by authorities,” the center said in a statement.

On the contrary, there was an influx of Iranians returning home over the weekend. As airspaces remained closed, Iranian nationals visiting Türkiye and those living there took the long route of land travel. Bus companies in Istanbul, one of the most popular cities for Iranian visitors, added more trips to their itinerary over rising demand. Bus rides were also popular for Iranians arriving from third countries who tried to reach their countries amid cancellations of flights from Türkiye and other regional countries into Iran.

Ömer Sağdıç, a bus driver taking 47 Iranian passengers to the Gürbulak border crossing with Iran from Istanbul, told Demirören News Agency (DHA) that they used to see a surge in Iranian visitors to Türkiye, but it has reversed now. "People are rushing to see their families, to check whether they are safe. The demand is high and people have to wait for one day to find tickets,” he said on Sunday.