G20 Summit: Turkey urges immediate ceasefire, two-state path
At the G20 meeting in Brazil, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the international community to actively seek an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and work towards a two-state resolution of the conflict, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
Turkey has consistently condemned Israel's actions in Gaza and advocated for Israel to face genocide charges at the World Court, alongside calling for a ceasefire.
Turkey, a NATO member, diverges from its Western allies and some Gulf states in its stance on Hamas. It does not classify the Palestinian group, which governs Gaza and launched an attack on Israel on October 7 sparking the current Israeli offensive, as a terrorist organization. At the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Fidan highlighted the urgent need to halt the "savagery" in Gaza. He discussed immediate ceasefire strategies and enhancing aid delivery to the region with counterparts from the United States, Germany, and Egypt.
In discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Fidan explored steps towards a rapid ceasefire, and with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, he examined "concrete steps" to cease hostilities. Fidan criticized the United Nations Security Council for its failure to agree on a ceasefire, citing it as evidence of the need for reform within the council, particularly following a third U.S. veto against a ceasefire proposal.
Fidan and his team advocate for reforming the U.N. Security Council to better reflect global diversity and opinions. He also praised Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's stance on the Gaza conflict, which has sparked diplomatic tensions due to Lula's comparison of the situation in Gaza to the Nazi genocide in World War II.
