- Israel “cannot live without an enemy”: Hakan Fidan.
- Fidan says move turning into state strategy in Israel.
- Urges Nato to reset ties with Trump in Ankara summit.
Israel “cannot live without an enemy” and its government is now trying to portray Turkiye as one, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday.
“After Iran, Israel cannot live without an enemy,” Fidan said in a televised interview with the state-run Anadolu news agency.
“We see that not only Netanyahu’s administration but also some figures in the opposition — though not all — are seeking to declare Turkiye the new enemy,” he said.
“This is a new development in Israel… turning into a state strategy,” he added.
Tensions between Turkiye and Israel have steadily escalated since the Gaza war erupted following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack in Israel.
The dispute entered a new phase over the weekend after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned his US counterpart Donald Trump of “possible provocations and sabotage” that could jeopardise an initial ceasefire arrangement in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the two-week ceasefire between Tehran and Washington on April 8, ending the six-week war that began on February 28, when the US launched a joint bombing campaign with Israel against Iran.
Following President Erdogan’s warning about possible sabotage of the ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would continue to confront Tehran and its regional allies.
In response, Turkiye said that Netanyahu’s current objective was “to undermine ongoing peace negotiations and continue his expansionist policies in the region”.
In a statement on April 11, the ministry said that the Israeli prime minister risked being tried in his own country and is likely to be sentenced to imprisonment on corruption charges.
“Netanyahu, who has been described as the Hitler of our time due to the crimes he has committed, is a well-known figure with a clear track record,” the Turkish foreign ministry added.
The ministry also noted the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against the Israeli prime minister on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Nato urged to reset ties with Trump
During the same interview, the Turkish foreign minister said that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) allies should use their July summit in Ankara to reset ties with US President Donald Trump and prepare for a potential reduction of US involvement in the alliance.
Fidan said that Turkiye believed Trump would attend the Nato leaders’ summit on July 7-8 due to his “personal respect” for President Erdogan, but added he understood Trump was otherwise reluctant to come to the meeting.
Trump has criticised Nato for years and last week threatened to pull the United States out of the alliance over European members’ refusal to send ships to unblock the Strait of Hormuz near Iran. That compounded friction within the bloc over his earlier plans to acquire Greenland.
Fidan said that allies had long considered Trump’s criticisms to be rhetoric, but were now planning around the possibility of reduced US involvement and ramping up their own defensive capacities.
“Nato countries need to turn this Ankara Summit into an opportunity to put ties with the United States on a systematic basis,” he said.
“If there will be a US withdrawal from some Nato mechanisms, there needs to be a plan and programme to phase this out so nobody is left in the open,” he added.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has said he understood Trump’s frustrations with the alliance, but that the “large majority of European nations” had been helpful to Washington’s war effort in Iran.
A senior White House official told Reuters last week that Trump, as part of his frustration with Nato, had also considered the option of removing some US troops from Europe.
