Turkish top diplomat carries out intense diplomacy for Gaza

MUNICH

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan carried out intense diplomacy through numerous high-level talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference as he emphasized the need for an urgent ceasefire and promoted a lasting agreement between Israel and Palestine as the only way for ending the crisis in the Middle East.

Fidan attended the annual conference over the weekend and held bilateral meetings with senior participants of the forum, including the host country, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

According to the diplomatic sources, Fidan underscored the importance of taking urgent action to stop the ongoing massacres in Gaza and urged that the continuation of the offensive can trigger social reactions in the regional countries.

Sources stressed that both Türkiye and Germany agreed on the need for increasing the volume of humanitarian assistance for civilians stranded in the enclave. Fidan and Baerbock also discussed the bilateral agenda and reiterated the common objective of increasing trade volume to $60 billion from the current $50 billion.

Fidan, in his meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, has also underlined the importance of issuing stronger messages by the European Union for the cessation of Israeli massacres in Gaza. The two ministers did look into the state of Türkiye-EU relationship in detail, the sources said, as Fidan criticized Brussels once again for displaying a different attitude towards Türkiye than other candidate countries.

The two ministers raised the recent developments in Libya as well, added the sources.

Another colleague Fidan held talks with in Munich was Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot. The ministers discussed the situation in Gaza as both expressed concerns that a new offensive by Israel on Rafah City will prompt a bigger disaster for civilians.

Fidan and Slot also discussed Türkiye-EU ties as the former underscored the importance of reviving the accession negotiations with Türkiye and removing political hurdles before them.

Another key meeting for Fidan was with Karim Ahmad Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court which is investigating war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.

According to the sources, the chief prosecutor informed Fidan about his investigations and underlined that 2024 will be important for the course of the prosecution. Fidan, for his part, said he understands that the investigations can take time, but the situation is getting worse every day; and pointed out that a verdict given in favor of Palestinians too late will not be reverse the disaster.

HH Sweden thanks Türkiye for NATO move

Fidan met Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström in Munich. According to the sources, Billström expressed his thanks to Türkiye for the completion of the ratification process to join NATO. He confirmed that Sweden will remain loyal to the promises it had given in the NATO summits in Madrid and Vilnşus on the fight against terrorism and security.

In Munich, Fidan discussed Turkish-EU ties in depth with EU chief foreign policy and security representative Josep Borrell as well. Other leaders he met were Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev, Montenegro President Jakov Milatovic and Foreign Minister Filip İvanovic, Kosovo deputy Prime Minister Donika Gervella-Schwarz and Iceland Foreign Minister Bjarni Benediktsson.