Turkey
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan addresses media during a joint news conference with Bulgarian deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign affairs in Sofia on January 30, 2024.Photo: Nikolay Doychinov/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday urged a gathering of Islamic nations to prevent Israel from pushing the Middle East into total disaster.
“Israel is now attacking our neighbor Iran, pushing the region to the brink of a full-scale disaster,” Fidan said at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, according to Turkish media.
“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardise regional and global security,” he added.
The OIC is an intergovernmental organization made up of 57 member states, primarily Muslim-majority countries, aimed at promoting Muslim solidarity in social, economic, and political matters.
Iran and Israel continue to trade salvos on the ninth day of the conflict that began on June 13 when Israel targeted Tehran’s nuclear and military facilities, prompting retaliatory attacks from Iran. Israeli authorities have reported at least 25 deaths and hundreds of injuries while Iran’s health ministry said 430 people have died and 3,500 were wounded.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that Ankara would continue its efforts to stop Israel’s “aggression” and warned against provoking Turkey.
In response, Israeli Defense Minister Gideon Saar said on X that “Erdogan continues his provocative rhetoric against Israel and the Israeli Prime Minister in another enthusiastic and aggressive speech,” accusing the Turkish leader of “suppressing the freedoms and rights of his citizens, as well as dissent within his country.”
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