President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned that the prolongation of the war between the U.S.-Israel and Iran increases the risk of igniting an all-out armed conflict between the regional countries, repeating his calls for the resumption of diplomacy and dialogue to give an end to the war.
“Among the dangers looming in our region, besides the further prolongation of the war, is the risk of it escalating into a regional internal conflict. Unfortunately, retaliations targeting infrastructure increase this possibility,” Erdoğan told his Justice and Development Party (AKP) parliamentary group in a weekly address on April 1 in Ankara.
Erdoğan referred to Iran’s continued retaliations that have been mostly targeting civilian infrastructure in the Gulf countries, particularly energy facilities, since the war began on Feb. 28.
Erdoğan stressed that the war continues by increasing its level of danger and threat at the expense of disrupting global and regional peace visions.
“Our priority is to overcome this stormy period without any incident. We are determined to keep Türkiye away from this fire,” Erdoğan said, explaining that government has been pursuing a cautious, restrained, balanced and rational policy.
“Türkiye’s stance is crystal clear. We consider it our duty to do whatever is necessary, without hesitation, to ensure that peace prevails,” he stated, recalling that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and National Intelligence Organization chief İbrahim Kalın have been intensely engaged in international forums devoted to find a solution to end the war.
The president stressed that the war in the Middle East that observes civilian casualties serves only for the prolongation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political life and underlined that Israel is primarily responsible for the war in the region and the economic disruption in the world.
“Our hope is that the path to peace will be opened without further bloodshed. To this end, we will continue to fulfill our responsibility,” he added.
Türkiye has been one of the most vocal countries for ending the war, Erdoğan stressed, underlining that this approach has received global appreciation.
