The world must see the truth: It isn’t Israel whose security is under threat but Palestinians and countries in the region, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday as Israel continues pounding on the Gaza Strip for over three months now.
“It’s unacceptable to legitimize Israel’s attacks on Palestine under the pretext of security,” Fidan told reports alongside Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman.
“If we cannot come together and defend such a rightful issue in an honorable and strong manner, if we do not demonstrate the sufficiency of this, today this crisis will hit the Palestinians, tomorrow it will be another Muslim nation,” Fidan warned.
In a thinly veiled jab at Western nations’ singular emphasis on Israeli hostages, he said: “A mentality that only talks about Israel’s security and overlooks the security threat Palestinians face is bringing not peace but war to the region.”
The Israeli offensive – launched in the wake of a deadly attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas in southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed – has displaced most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million and claimed the lives of more than 24,000 people.
Describing what Israel has been doing “with the claim of ensuring its own security” as “nothing but expansionism and occupation,” Fidan said, “The fact that Israeli territory grows after every war and crisis is the most concrete evidence of this.”
Stressing that Israel’s “massacres must stop” and the blockade on Gaza must be lifted “immediately,” Fidan also slammed Israel for “stealing Palestinian land through occupation, which it calls ‘settlements,’ in the West Bank.”
The Israeli army has been making unlawful arrests in the occupied West Bank, including at least 6,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, where tensions have been running high. At least 360 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 4,000 others injured in the occupied territory, according to figures released by the Health Ministry.
Türkiye welcomes South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Fidan continued, noting that Ankara wishes the court’s temporary injunction ruling to stop the Israeli attacks would create an opportunity for a permanent cease-fire.
The international community has been waiting for ICJ’s decision since the hearings concluded on Jan. 12, where South Africa's legal team asked the court to put in a special emergency request for provisional measures to halt the deadly Israeli campaign.
“The Middle East doesn’t need more conflicts and problems,” Fidan said, pointing to the repercussions the war in Gaza is having on regional tensions, particularly Palestine’s neighbors, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Armed groups backed by Iran have launched attacks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Safadi too underscored the “essential” need to end the war in Gaza and avert an escalation of violence in the wider region.
“Israel should allow displaced Palestinians in Gaza to return to their homes,” Safadi said.
"With regard to the current priorities, they are clear: ending the aggression in Gaza, letting in sufficient permanent humanitarian aid to all parts of the Strip, south and north, stopping the destruction, and working immediately for the return of displaced Gazans to their areas and homes," he said.
The Turkish diplomat also touted Jordan for its “stable political and economic structure” and as “a nation that must always be accounted for in the Middle East geopolitics.”
He said he and Safadi had the opportunity to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis and the security crisis arising due to the civil war since 2011, as well as potential moves to tackle shared issues and maintain bilateral relations around these.
“We are maintaining dialogue on both bilateral and multilateral platforms and following the decisions taken at the Joint Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League,” Fidan noted.
The pair previously traveled to several Western nations, including the U.S., Canada and Belgium, as part of the Gaza contact group of the Arab League and the OIC to strengthen the shifting global stance for Israel to stop its attacks.
Fidan praised “concrete results” from these initiatives, which he believes have contributed to the pro-Palestine shift in international public opinion.
“Regional crises concern Türkiye and Jordan very closely and therefore, we attach great importance to regular consultations,” Fidan said, adding that the Türkiye-Jordan Joint Economic Commission would hold its first meeting in the coming term.
