President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) during a meeting on Wednesday that Türkiye was cautiously optimistic on the future of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, the Sabah newspaper reported.
The president chaired the Central Executive Committee meeting of the AK Party after a speech at the party’s parliamentary group meeting, where he highlighted their bid to “keep Türkiye out of fire.”
Emphasizing the escalating tension along the U.S.-Israel-Iran line, Erdoğan told the meeting that Türkiye is closely monitoring the process and is intensively continuing its diplomatic initiatives.
“We are cautiously optimistic. Hopefully, this process will come to an end. We are using all our diplomatic power to prevent it from spreading and to ensure it ends as soon as possible,” he said.
Stressing that Türkiye will maintain its peace- and stability-oriented approach, Erdoğan underlined the sensitivity of developments in the region.
At the meeting, Erdoğan also issued important warnings to members of the board regarding the war in the region, noting that an appropriate tone should be used.
Ankara has so far maintained a neutral stance in the war and has joined efforts to find a diplomatic solution. It has also shot down four missiles fired from Iran since last month. Tehran has denied targeting Türkiye deliberately and warned of false flag operations.
"Our priority is that our country should come out of this stormy period without any incident. We are determined to keep Türkiye out of the fire. We are not falling for the traps of the opposition and manage this process in a cautious, balanced and rational manner," he told the parliamentary group meeting of his party on Wednesday.
The opposition adopted a more hawkish tone in the early days of the war and mostly called for siding with Iran while sending mixed signals about the "regime change" in Iran. The government has avoided a firebrand or one-sided approach so far, despite Türkiye seeing four missiles entering its airspace since the war began on Feb. 28. Ankara has never been harsh in its discourse toward Iran, and the missiles were intercepted by NATO's defense systems. Instead, Türkiye has been keen on playing the role of mediator as it did in the other conflicts in the region and beyond.
Erdoğan reminded that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan joined a quadrilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan to discuss steps to stop the war. He said Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın were also exerting efforts to that extent.
