“Conflicts in Our Region Must Come to an End,” Fidan Says
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has called for an end to conflicts across the region, warning that repeated breaches of ceasefires are weakening confidence in the international system. He made the remarks at the 9th Istanbul Mediation Conference, where he discussed the role of diplomacy in resolving crises and building lasting peace.
Fidan described Istanbul as a city with a long history as a centre for dialogue and diplomacy. He said it had often served as a bridge between divided parties-a role that remains essential as conflicts grow more complex and distrust deepens.
The minister pointed to events in Gaza and the West Bank as evidence of the damage caused when ceasefire commitments are repeatedly violated. In his view, daily breaches by Israeli forces erode faith in international mechanisms and create wider uncertainty. Mediation, he stressed, depends on trust between the parties and cannot succeed when that foundation is absent.
Fidan also argued that conflicts must be understood in their individual contexts. Each has its own history, participants and underlying dynamics, meaning that effective mediation requires more than applying a standard formula. Mediators need to understand the local conditions driving a crisis and identify where the parties may find common ground.
He warned that crises are moving faster than institutions can respond. At the same time, stability cannot simply be imported, and durable solutions cannot be imposed from outside. Sustainable peace, he said, must reflect the realities of the region and involve those who have a direct stake in its future.
As examples of regional cooperation, Fidan cited the Mecca Defence Alliance and the Balkan Peace Platform. He said the Mecca initiative was established to safeguard regional security, peace and prosperity, and that it was founded on a sense of regional ownership. Such arrangements, he suggested, show how locally driven cooperation can help address shared challenges.
Fidan maintained that mediation is most effective when it brings different perspectives together and gives conflicting parties space to reach their own agreement. He said Turkey had established an institutional framework to support this work, with the aim of helping the parties pursue a settlement themselves rather than dictating one to them.
The broader challenge, according to Fidan’s remarks, is to turn mediation from a response to individual emergencies into a consistent part of conflict prevention. That requires credible commitments, sustained diplomatic engagement and regional initiatives that are accepted by the people and governments they are meant to serve. Without those elements, ceasefires may remain fragile and political agreements difficult to maintain.
The conference’s central message was that ending conflict requires both immediate diplomacy and long-term regional responsibility. International institutions can support negotiations, but lasting stability depends on trust, local involvement and solutions shaped by the circumstances of each dispute.
Separately, an unrelated incident was reported in Mudanya, in Bursa province, where a cat entered a refrigerated display in a supermarket’s butcher section and ate meat after opening its packaging. The episode was captured on a mobile phone, and the district agriculture and forestry authority fined the store 52,800 Turkish lira.