Erdoğan highlights peacemaking bids from Gaza to Ukraine

The G-20 summit in South Africa was an opportunity for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to meet with international leaders and promote Türkiye’s vision for greater global cooperation and lasting peace.

Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the summit in Johannesburg on Sunday, Erdoğan underlined Ankara’s peacemaking role. “We will be wherever a problem arises,” he told reporters as he summed up their peace diplomacy.

The situation in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, two issues Türkiye is closely interested in, dominated the news conference, while the president said those issues also came up during his bilateral talks at the summit and at the event itself.

“A true global peace cannot be achieved with the establishment of the State of Palestine,” he said as he talked about the ongoing cease-fire in Gaza.

Erdoğan also praised the host, South Africa, which sought the punishment of Israeli officials for genocide in Gaza.

“South Africa’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause is valuable; they demonstrated an exemplary stance against the Gaza genocide,” he said. “As the whole world was watching crimes against humanity in Gaza, our friends in South Africa did not turn their backs. On behalf of my country and nation, I salute South Africa for its brave stand through a case they filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” Erdoğan said.

South Africa filed the case in December 2023, accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza. Several countries have since joined the proceedings, including Spain, Ireland, Libya, Mexico, Belgium and Türkiye.

The ICJ issued three provisional measures, ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Erdoğan said Türkiye strongly supported the Palestinian cause without fear and defended the rights of the oppressed in Gaza. “We also stood with our Gazan brothers by sending more than 103,000 tons of humanitarian aid,” he noted. Erdoğan pointed out the recent cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, which was contributed to by Türkiye. “We are doing everything we can to prevent a return to conflict,” he said.

The president said the issue was also discussed at the summit, where he underlined that mitigating the devastation in Gaza was a global responsibility and called for support for humanitarian aid to Gaza and its reconstruction.

“After the cease-fire, it is crucial to implement a two-state solution. Without a State of Palestine based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, a true global peace cannot be achieved. We will adhere to this principled stance for our Gazan brothers and sisters,” he stated.

Türkiye is among the supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, though it is also cautious about whether Israel would let it happen. Erdoğan often highlights that Israel has repeatedly violated the cease-fire. Türkiye will also join an international task force planned to monitor peace. Yet, the Netanyahu administration is adamant on not allowing Turkish peacekeepers in the region as their hostility toward Türkiye worsened with Ankara’s staunch support for the oppressed Gazans by the Zionist regime. Asked about Türkiye’s participation in the task force, Erdoğan said the Defense Ministry was reviewing the options and would make its ultimate decision after further assessment.

Call with Putin

Erdoğan also answered a question on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Türkiye’s role as a mediator. The president, who recently hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he would hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

“We will do everything on the path to peace,” he said. He told reporters that Türkiye’s earlier efforts to reach a grain deal during the conflict failed after reaching a certain point, but he would seek to revive them during his talks with Putin on Monday.

“Hundreds of thousands of people died in the past four years on both sides. Türkiye is worried and works on ways to end all this,” Erdoğan said.

“We will discuss steps to stop killings. I think I will have the opportunity to share details of any conclusion we reach (with Putin) with President Trump and our European friends,” the president said.

Conflict in Sudan

On a question about whether Türkiye would act to resolve the conflict in Sudan, Erdoğan said their Sudanese brothers were waiting for action from them and they would do everything to fix it. “We have always worked to ensure peace around the world, and we will be there wherever we can do it,” he said.

“We worked for peace elsewhere, such as Somalia and we will be everywhere for peace in the future too,” Erdoğan underlined.

A civil war between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has continued since April 2023. Thousands of people have been killed and more than 14 million displaced due to the fighting. Türkiye backs the state in the conflict and calls for an end to the war.

Under Erdoğan’s leadership, Türkiye has expanded its clout as an essential international actor in Africa, something Ankara ties to its humanitarian approach to the continent, which Ankara long sees as having been exploited by Western colonialism. Warming ties with African countries made Erdoğan a sought-after figure in African disputes. Most recently, the president stepped in to mediate a dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia.

The G-20 summit in South Africa was an opportunity for Erdoğan to meet with international leaders and promote Türkiye’s vision for greater global cooperation and a fairer world order.

Erdoğan told reporters at Sunday’s news conference that he highlighted at the summit the need for financial support to least developed countries to reach the U.N. 2030 development goals.

“It is important to have the G-20 to lead the international community in the face of international challenges. This year’s motto at the summit was leaving nobody behind and I underlined that this should guide us,” he said, as he emphasized the need for international cooperation and multilateralism.

The Turkish leader held bilateral talks with leaders from around the world on the sidelines of the summit over the weekend, while attending several sessions of the global event.

On Saturday, the president attended a session entitled “A Resilient World,” and on Sunday, he joined other leaders for another session on critical minerals and AI.

On the margins of the summit on Sunday, Erdoğan met French President Emmanuel Macron. He also held talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. On Saturday, Erdoğan held talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and leaders of the MIKTA grouping of countries. He also held talks with Angola’s President Joao Lourenco, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Erdoğan’s meetings with other leaders mainly focused on ongoing conflicts and the Gaza cease-fire. In his talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Erdoğan said that reviving the Istanbul peace talks between Russia and Ukraine could also open the door to peace, according to a statement from the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications. He also emphasized the importance of maintaining the cease-fire in Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the region, saying that the formula for lasting peace lies in a two-state solution, and that Türkiye is making efforts in this regard.

He told Macron that preserving the cease-fire in Gaza and ensuring humanitarian aid to the region were essential, and reiterated that a permanent peace can be ensured only through a two-state solution, adding that Türkiye worked hard to achieve this formula. On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Erdoğan told Macron that all diplomatic resources should be utilized to achieve a fair and permanent peace and that Türkiye would continue working to bring the warring sides to “a platform of negotiations focusing on peace.”