Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the “biggest obstacle to regional peace” and that Israeli attacks on Iran right before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed to sabotage the negotiations.
Addressing Arab League diplomats during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict.
Israeli attacks on Iran show that Netanyahu “and his government … do not want any issues or any matters to be solved diplomatically,” said Erdogan.
“Netanyahu’s Zionist ambitions have no other purpose than to drag our region and … the whole world into a big disaster,” he added.
Erdogan accused the Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel. He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood”.
“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry – not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC gathering.
The 57-member OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”.
Speaking before Erdogan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of leading the Middle East towards “total disaster” by attacking Iran.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour,” he said. “There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem.”
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said Turkiye as the current OIC chair sees itself well-placed in helping to find a resolution to the Israel-Iran conflict.
“It is a NATO member country placed between the Western and Muslim worlds, and has strong bilateral relations with Iran, the Western world and the United States. And until a few years ago, it had strong relations with Israel,” she said.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country was only prepared to engage with the US if Israel stops its attacks on Iran.
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,” said Araghchi.
“We support the continuation of discussion with [Britain, France, Germany and the EU] and express our readiness to meet again in the near future.”
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