Türkiye pursues dialogue, diplomacy at UN General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly hosted a diverse array of leaders from around a fragmented world mired in conflict. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were high-profile figures in the Turkish delegation to the assembly. Speaking to journalists after his busy week, Fidan said Türkiye championed dialogue over conflict, diplomacy over crisis, and cooperation over division during the event in New York. Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Fidan said he had taken part in more than 40 bilateral meetings and multilateral gatherings, with Palestine remaining a central issue on Türkiye's diplomatic agenda. He stressed Ankara's commitment to resolving regional and global challenges through diplomacy. Fidan said the Turkish delegation brought up Israel's genocidal policies in Gaza and its occupation and annexation activities at every meeting it attended. He noted that in his 16th address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Erdoğan once again drew international attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. The president also held 16 bilateral meetings, attended a high-level event on climate action and a just transition, and took part in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders on regional issues. He also met Turkish citizens living in the U.S., Turkish and American businesspeople, and representatives of U.S. think tanks. Fidan described Erdoğan's address to the General Assembly as a manifesto setting out Türkiye's global vision. Fidan said he met with his counterparts from Indonesia, Qatar, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in an eight-country format to discuss Palestine. He also took part in meetings addressing last year's New York Declaration and comprehensive peace plan. In addition, he held four-way talks with the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as trilateral discussions with his Syrian and Saudi counterparts. Fidan said he also met the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia under the Mecca alliance framework for comprehensive consultations. As chair of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers, he presided over its annual coordination meeting in New York. Türkiye also co-hosted a meeting with the U.S. titled "International Support for Peace, Unity and Prosperity in Libya," he added. Fidan said regional and global developments were discussed at an informal meeting of the Organization of Turkic States' (OTS) Council of Foreign Ministers. He also attended the 30th MIKTA foreign ministers' meeting ahead of Türkiye assuming the group's chairmanship in 2027. Fidan said that during the high-level week, Türkiye contributed to U.N. efforts on migration, development, humanitarian assistance, dealing with climate change and food security. Turkish officials also took part in meetings on the Rohingya issue, the Alliance of Civilizations and Crimea, while Türkiye hosted a meeting of the Group of Friends of Mediation. He stressed the need for the international community to develop common solutions to shared challenges, reiterating Ankara's position that regional problems should be addressed through regional ownership rather than seeking solutions elsewhere. Fidan said Türkiye also reaffirmed its long-standing support for reforming the U.N. system. Erdoğan has long pushed for reforms to the U.N., often using the slogan, "The world is bigger than five," which refers to the Security Council's unrepresentative membership. In his address to the General Assembly earlier, Erdoğan argued that the current system gives disproportionate power to its five permanent members. "A system in which the will of more than 190 countries is subject to the whims of five countries is neither fair nor capable of fully inspiring trust," Erdoğan said. He said the Security Council "must be reformed" in accordance with his longstanding principle that "the world is bigger than five." Erdoğan outlined several principles for a fairer international system, including applying international law equally to powerful and weaker states, strengthening regional ownership of crises, and putting cooperation and open diplomacy at the center of interstate relations. During the high-level week, Türkiye also outlined its priorities and initiatives for the COP31 U.N. Climate Change Conference, which it will chair and host this November, Fidan added. Fidan said Israel is facing growing international isolation as diplomatic efforts increasingly translated international opposition to its actions into concrete measures and policies. "Thanks to diplomatic efforts, Israel's oppression and massacres no longer go unanswered to the same extent as before. It now has to pay a very heavy price for every action it takes," he said. He pointed to legal proceedings involving the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court as examples of the rising pressure on Israel. On Erdoğan's meeting with Trump and Gulf leaders, Fidan said the discussions focused on challenges facing the Gaza peace plan launched last year, including Israel flouting its provisions, as well as ongoing tensions in the Gulf. Erdoğan also presented Türkiye's proposals for regional peace, addressing the situation in Gaza, the threat posed by Israeli expansionism, and efforts to resolve the impasse over the Strait of Hormuz, he added. Fidan said Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are continuing efforts to establish the institutional structure of the landmark Mecca Joint Defense Alliance, with the aim of appointing a secretary-general within two weeks. Pakistan has proposed a candidate who is likely to be accepted by the other member states, he said, adding that further appointments will follow once the secretary-general takes office. Fidan said the three countries also discussed military threats facing Saudi Arabia, including attacks by the Houthis from the south and other attacks from the north. He said a military-technical assessment meeting had been held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday with the participation of Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu. Fidan said he had spoken with Bayraktaroğlu to coordinate military assessments with the political approach and had also briefed Erdoğan. On tensions between the U.S. and Iran, Fidan said he had discussed Tehran's latest proposal with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, including Iran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. He said he had also received initial impressions of the U.S. response to the proposal but stressed that diplomatic efforts have yet to produce a breakthrough. "The positive thing is that efforts are continuing. The negative aspect is that they have not yet yielded any results," he said. Citing a telephone call between Erdoğan and Trump, Fidan said Türkiye wants diplomatic efforts to continue without a renewed outbreak of hostilities. He added that Türkiye's Gulf partners, who have been directly affected by the crisis both economically and militarily, share Ankara's preference for a diplomatic solution. Fidan also spoke about Turkish-Iraqi relations, especially in light of the terror-free Türkiye initiative, which aims to disarm the terrorist group PKK. The PKK, which has killed tens of thousands of people in Türkiye since the 1980s, has its senior leadership holed up in northern Iraq, in a mountainous territory known as Qandil. The group obeyed the instructions of its jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan last year and started the disarmament process. Iraq also started the process of disarming all armed groups in the country outside the security forces, something that also covers powerful Iran-linked militias. Fidan said Baghdad had adopted a policy aimed at disarming all armed groups in the country, including the PKK and affiliated groups operating in the Sinjar region. He said the issue had been discussed during Erdoğan's meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali
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