Türkiye’s top diplomat to attend D8 meeting on Gaza

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend the D8 meeting in Cairo on Dec. 18, where regional developments, particularly the Israeli aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, will be discussed, according to diplomatic sources.

The foreign ministers will review preparations for the leaders’ summit to be hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Dec. 19.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to attend the summit along with the leaders of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Malesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.

The ministerial meeting will focus on the D8 works and ways to increase trade and economic cooperation between the member states. The ministers will also discuss regional developments.

According to sources, Fidan will underline that Israel’s genocidal acts must stop before the conflict turns into a regional war in an already tense Middle East. He will once again call for an urgent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid to the Gazan people.

The Turkish minister will also retaliate the need for increased pressure on Israel by the use of all means so that these atrocities stop immediately.

Türkiye hosted an extraordinary D8 meeting in June in Istanbul that focused on the Gaza crisis where all the member states condemned Israel and called on the international community to take tangible measures against the aggressor.

At the meeting, the recent developments in Syria as well as the reconstruction of Lebanon are expected to be on the agenda. Both war-torn countries need international support in the coming period, sources stressed.

The D8 was founded in 1997 by the eight largest Muslim states with the purpose of increasing economic and trade cooperation and creating new opportunities. D8 prefers peace instead of conflicts, dialogue instead of challenges, justice instead of double standards, equality instead of discrimination and democracy instead of oppression.