The outgoing U.S. Ambassador in Ankara Jeff Flake said his country was asking Türkiye and allies with ties to Iran to persuade Tehran to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East after the killing of senior Hamas figure Ismail Haniyeh.
Flake made the comments as the region braces for possible attacks by Iran and its allies after the killing of senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran on July 31, triggering threats of revenge by Iran against Israel, which is fighting Hamas in Gaza. Iran blamed Israel for the killing. Israel has not claimed responsibility.
"We ask all of our allies that have any relations with Iran to prevail on them to de-escalate, and that includes (Türkiye)," Flake said at a roundtable with journalists in Istanbul as he comes to the end of his posting in the country next month. "They're doing what they can to make sure that it doesn't escalate," he said of Washington's Turkish interlocutors, adding that they "seem more confident than we are that it won't escalate."
U.S.-Türkiye ties have been strained in recent years by the U.S. alliance with the YPG, the Syria branch of the PKK which is recognized as a terrorist group both by Ankara and Washington, and over Türkiye's purchase of Russian S-400 defenses that prompted U.S. sanctions and removal from the F-35 jet program.
However, Flake said that he thought U.S.-Türkiye relations are now "in a better place than we've been in a while." He noted the "useful role" that Türkiye had played in what was the biggest prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia since the Cold War in Ankara at the start of August. "They weren't involved in the negotiation side, but on the logistics side, they played a significant role," he said.
In an interview with Reuters in June, Flake had said that Türkiye remained firmly anchored in the West and its partnership with the United States has never been stronger. He said the divide between Ankara and Washington on Gaza had narrowed after Washington started "actively calling" for a cease-fire, but friction remained.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and underlined the need to put more pressure on Israel for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
Fidan told Blinken that Israel's assassination of Haniyeh shows Benjamin Netanyahu's administration is not interested in peace, the ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said. He continued by highlighting that Hamas had previously displayed a positive stance for a cease-fire and that the U.S. needs to keep putting pressure on Israel, as he told Blinken that the escalation of tensions in the region was concerning. Israel needs to refrain from taking provocative steps that would lead to further spillover, Fidan said.
