Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, diplomatic sources said late Sunday. The two top diplomats, who have been in close contact since the latest stage of the Palestine-Israel conflict broke out in early October, discussed the situation. The diplomatic sources said Blinken and Fidan spoke about preventing the conflict in Gaza from spreading in the region, efforts to secure the release of hostages and the urgency of creating a humanitarian corridor, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Fidan further told Blinken that the targeting of the people of Gaza without discrimination is unacceptable.
Hakan Fidan is engaged in intense diplomatic efforts with his counterparts from the region and around the world for a solution to the ongoing conflict. He visited Lebanon, Egypt and Qatar and attended high-level meetings to address the issue. During a news conference last week in Qatar with his Qatari counterpart, Fidan called on the international community to act, warning worse days were awaiting the world if the Palestine-Israel conflict continued. He said that an all-out land offensive by Israel targeting Gaza would only upgrade Israel’s current “savagery” to an all-out massacre.
Türkiye has been trying to facilitate diplomatic channels to push for a cease-fire amid incessant Israeli airstrikes, which killed thousands and destroyed hospitals, homes, schools, marketplaces, churches, mosques, refugee camps and more.
Blinken and Fidan also spoke about NATO’s enlargement process, according to the diplomatic sources. The military bloc aims to expand its membership with the inclusion of Sweden, something Türkiye opposed without Sweden providing security guarantees for Türkiye. The protocol on its accession was referred to the Turkish Parliament recently after being signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Only Türkiye and Hungary are yet to ratify Sweden’s membership after Stockholm dropped its long-standing policy of non-alignment to apply in the face of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Finland, which applied to join NATO at the same time as Sweden, was granted membership in April.
Stockholm reassured Türkiye that it would not support terrorist organizations, including the PKK, its Syrian affiliate YPG, or the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), in the aftermath of its NATO membership and that a new bilateral security mechanism will be created between Ankara and Stockholm. NATO will also establish a Special Coordinator on Counterterrorism for the first time in the bloc’s history.
