President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will make up his mind soon and decide whether he will comply with U.S. President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace for Gaza, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters on Tuesday.
Fidan stressed that Ankara values efforts for peace in the Palestinian enclave.
Commenting on Trump's invitation in an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA) and broadcaster TRT, Fidan said they were examining the offer. He noted that Erdoğan, since the very beginning, advocated a national mobilization for resolving the situation in Gaza and spearheaded efforts to that extent, including efforts jointly made by international partners.
"The board may have its shortcomings, but having it is a valuable development for us. We also value that the invitation was also extended to countries we worked with closely, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. We will assess this offer with our partners, from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt to our Turkic brothers and our friends in Europe," he said.
"Our president will continue mobilizing international diplomacy for Gaza. The president is always warm to ideas that would save even one life in Gaza or elsewhere. But we have to look into certain norms and we have to weigh what Türkiye's interests are. After considering all those, the president will make a decision," he said.
Last week, the White House announced the formation of the Board of Peace to "play an essential role in fulfilling" 20 points of Trump's plan to permanently end Israel's war on Gaza and rebuild the enclave, as well as "providing strategic oversight, mobilizing international resources and ensuring accountability as Gaza transitions from conflict to peace and development."
The U.S. also formed the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza to implement Phase 2 of Trump's "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict," a founding executive board and a Gaza executive board to support the transitional framework.
