- Fidan reiterates Ankara’s support for Palestinians, saying Hamas was ready for a truce in Palestinian enclave
DOHA: Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reiterated Ankara’s support for Palestinians, expressing hope for swift aid delivery to Gaza and saying Hamas was ready for a truce in the Palestinian enclave, and now Israel should be forced to accept peace.
He emphasized that the Palestinian resistance movement was open to a lasting solution and that Israel should take steps accordingly, too.
Fidan was in the Qatari capital for bilateral talks with top officials of the country, one of the closest allies of Türkiye in the region. Earlier on Sunday, he was received by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Türkiye and Qatar are among the primary diplomatic actors in the region working for an end to the Palestine-Israel conflict. Qatar is a frequent host of representatives of the two sides of the conflict meeting to end hostilities, while Türkiye is engaged in a global diplomatic blitz, seeking support to stop Israeli aggression and more aid delivery for millions of Palestinians deprived of their basic needs.
For his part, Foreign Minister Al Thani called for urgent action to force Israel to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
“Qatar rejects the use of starvation and humanitarian aid as a weapon against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” he said at the news conference. “We continue our efforts with our partners to end the war in Gaza,” he added. “Efforts must be made with allies to compel Israel to allow the entry of humanitarian aid,” the top diplomat stressed.
The Qatari minister expressed deep concern over the collapse of the cease-fire agreement in Gaza and Israel’s resumption of its assaults, “which have caused further casualties, destruction, and worsened the suffering of more than 2 million Palestinians.” More than 52,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
Al Thani also reported “a bit of progress,” in response to questions about reports of a Thursday meeting in Doha between Israel’s Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea and the Qatari prime minister.
“We need to find an answer for the ultimate question: how to end this war. That’s, that’s basically, I think, the key point of the entire negotiations,” he added. Qatar, alongside Egypt and the United States, brokered a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which came into effect on Jan.19 but did not bring a complete end to the war. The initial phase of the truce ended in early March, with the two sides unable to agree on the next steps. Israel resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip on March 18 after earlier halting the entry of aid.
The minister met with Barnea in the Qatari capital to discuss a potential hostage deal on Thursday, according to Israeli media. “The meeting that took place on Thursday is part of these efforts where we’re trying to find a breakthrough,” the Qatari prime minister said without further elaborating on the details of the meeting. Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all hostages released and secure a five-year truce, an official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Saturday as the group’s negotiators met in Cairo. The Qatari prime minister said efforts were focused on the “best comprehensive deal possible that ends the war, brings the hostages out and not dividing (a deal) into other phases.”
Hamas has insisted that the negotiations should lead to a permanent end to the war. According to the Palestinian group, it rejected an earlier Israeli offer that included a 45-day cease-fire in exchange for the return of 10 living hostages.
Fidan said they were still working to ensure a cease-fire in the region. “Our efforts on Gaza are complementary to the efforts of Qatar and Egypt. In our discussions, we see where Hamas is now. Hamas can easily accept a deal where a two-state solution is on the table,” he said. He added that the solution to the current conflict should not be confined to a cease-fire. “We can turn this crisis into an opportunity. If the sides have good intentions, this may be the last crisis we face. Or, it can set a precedent for a worse crisis. Our goal is to find a lasting solution. The approach of the United States, the Trump administration, matters here. Israel should face pressure, because, right now, they don’t have any military opposition in the region (against their actions).”
Fidan also spoke about the presence of the YPG, an offshoot of the terrorist group PKK, in Syria. He underlined that the group should either accept being “left out of the system in Syria as Daesh did” or they would bear the consequences. He urged the YPG to accept ending its presence in post-Assad Syria “in peace.” “We don’t accept any initiative targeting Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Any initiative allowing those outside the central authority to bear arms is unacceptable,” he said. Fidan’s statement followed Saturday’s meeting of several Kurdish groups in Syria’s northeast who gathered at a “convention” with the YPG and called for a “decentralized, democratic” Syria. The SDF, an umbrella body of groups controlled by the YPG, has reached a deal with the new administration of post-Assad Syria recently. The landmark deal aims to integrate the so-called autonomous enclave in the northeast controlled by the YPG into the central government. YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin, a terrorist wanted by Türkiye, told the “convention” that they supported “all Syrian components receiving their rights in the constitution to be able to build a decentralized democratic Syria that embraces everyone.” The YPG flourished in Assad-era Syria, taking advantage of insecurity due to civil war and robust support by the United States, which partnered with the group under the guise of a joint fight against Daesh. This partnership spooked Türkiye, whose thousands of citizens were massacred by the PKK since the 1980s.
The foreign minister stated that Syria was taking positive steps to ensure equal rights to all groups in Syria through the constitution in the works. He noted that he discussed the situation in Syria with his Qatari counterpart as well, especially on efforts for postwar development, economy and lifting of sanctions. He highlighted that they would, however, be steadfast in their opposition to groups looking to exploit the current situation to achieve their own goals, to harm Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. “We expect implementation of the deal between the Syrian administration and the YPG,” Fidan stated, adding that they were also expecting the PKK to return a call for dissolution.
“The region fought wars, turmoil, occupation, blood and tears for years, and in modern times, we need to end these and build a prosperous, safe, respectful and free system. Actors resorting to old tactics of terrorism, actors believing that they would remain a trouble for regional governments, should get out of this system,” he warned.
“I believe they will utilize the opportunity presented by the spirit of this era and will consider carefully a policy prioritizing the well-being of the region’s people instead of goals set during the Cold War. This will certainly have an impact in other countries, from Syria and Iran to Iraq. But if they remain a proxy for other countries (to continue terrorist activities), they should know that Türkiye has the means and leadership of our president to counter them. Our priority is seeing them act with common sense,” he said.
