Doha, Qatar: Turkish Foreign Minister H E Hakan Fidan has said that his country maintains ongoing communication with several states to confront Israel’s expansionist mindset, emphasizing the necessity for Arab and Islamic countries to stand against Israel.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Fidan highlighted the importance of international action to counter Israel, stressing that its expansion poses the region’s biggest problem.
According to the Turkish minister, Israel seeks to enlarge its territory to establish a “Greater Israel,” while also weakening and fragmenting regional countries, noting that Syria is among these states. Fidan emphasised that Turkiye is in continuous dialogue with these countries, as well as with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, to confront this expansionist mentality. Despite strong Turkish-American relations, Minister Fidan expressed dissatisfaction with the US’s preferential treatment of Israel, stating that this undermines Washington’s position in the region and frustrates its allies.
Regarding the Israeli attack on Qatar, he noted that Ankara stands with Doha and supports all of its measures and actions in this regard.
Israel reportedly launched an assault on Qatar on Tuesday afternoon, targeting several leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), who were discussing a US proposal to end Israel’s nearly two-year war on Gaza. The attack resulted in the deaths of five Palestinians and one member of Qatar’s internal security forces.
Doha hosted a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers yesterday ahead of the emergency Arab-Islamic summit today, which will address the Israeli aggression against Qatar and discuss appropriate responses. Regarding this summit, the Turkish minister said that the issue is not an Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but rather an occupation of Palestine and a genocide in Gaza.
On the Syrian file, he said that Ankara is closely monitoring developments, describing Israel’s operations in southern Syria as dangerous.
