Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan believes that the ceasefire between Iran and the United States can be maintained, despite the remarks of US President Donald Trump that the truce has ended, Report informs.
In an interview with The Nation, Fidan called Iran’s recent actions “retaliation”, noting that he believed what happened was a miscommunication.
“I think there was a lack of communication and misunderstanding between both sides in terms of how to implement the passage through the strait,” he said, adding that a conversation by phone with his Iranian counterpart late on Thursday left him with “a deeper understanding of the root of the problem”. The solution, he said, was de-escalation.
“Both sides genuinely want to have the ceasefire and to move ahead with the peace agreement,” he said. “Nevertheless, there is always a percentage of accident possible, and because of miscommunications or provocations and retaliations, we have to be very careful.”
On Gaza, Fidan said the Trump-backed “Board of Peace” had been “instrumental in stopping the genocide”, but had not yet delivered on promised aid.
“In terms of seeing the deliverables that are promised by the plan itself, especially seeing the people that they are getting enough military assistance, shelter and medicine, I think in that part the plan has not fully succeeded yet.”
Fidan said Türkiye is uniquely positioned to mediate regional disputes precisely because of its history.
“We know everybody, we know the dynamics of every conflict,” he said. “So, I think we are best positioned to really understand [what is happening] and how to help stop them.”
“It is time for the region to have to shoulder the problems of our region, and to show ownership. With the old understanding, we will get both implementations and policies [that fail]”.
The alternative, he said, is a new security arrangement that guarantees “safety, security, political sovereignty, and territorial integrity of every party in the region”.
Earlier this year, Türkiye along with Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia formed a working group meant to build “a new order in our region based on peace”, Fidan said. He said it was not intended to replace the Arab League or the GCC, but to work faster.
“They are too formal,” he said of the existing institutions. “To have a good decision or permanent decision from a formal organisation is very difficult.”
“We need to go back to a situation where the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every nation is fully recognised,” he said.
“If we get a new security understanding, which would guarantee safety, security, political sovereignty, and territorial integrity of every party in the region, with a new understanding, I think it should tell Iran, look, we can go back to our corners. My belief, Iran is mature enough to understand all these realities, so hopefully if we reach a peace agreement between United States and Iran, then we can really start having healthy discussions,” Fidan said.