HUSSEIN AGHA spent more than 25 years as a Senior Associate at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and has been involved in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for more than three decades.

ROBERT MALLEY is a Lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. He served in the Biden administration as Special U.S. Envoy for Iran and in the Obama administration as White House Middle East Coordinator.

They are the authors of the forthcoming book Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel-Palestine.

Accusing Western leaders of ‘unconditional support’ to Israel, Turkish leader says his country will not allow Middle East borders to be redrawn ‘in blood’.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the “biggest obstacle to regional peace” and that Israeli attacks on Iran right before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed to sabotage the negotiations.

Addressing Arab League diplomats during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict.

Israeli attacks on Iran show that Netanyahu “and his government … do not want any issues or any matters to be solved diplomatically,” said Erdogan.

“Netanyahu’s Zionist ambitions have no other purpose than to drag our region and … the whole world into a big disaster,” he added.

Erdogan accused the Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel. He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood”.

“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry – not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC gathering.

The 57-member OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”.

Speaking before Erdogan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of leading the Middle East towards “total disaster” by attacking Iran.

Advertisement

“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour,” he said. “There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem.”

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said Turkiye as the current OIC chair sees itself well-placed in helping to find a resolution to the Israel-Iran conflict.

“It is a NATO member country placed between the Western and Muslim worlds, and has strong bilateral relations with Iran, the Western world and the United States. And until a few years ago, it had strong relations with Israel,” she said.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country was only prepared to engage with the US if Israel stops its attacks on Iran.

“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,” said Araghchi.

“We support the continuation of discussion with [Britain, France, Germany and the EU] and express our readiness to meet again in the near future.”

Moments ago, President Trump addressed the nation after his decisive action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities. By all reports, our military action was massively successful. President Trump is the right man to meet this moment. We join in his call for peace, and we are in prayer for our service members in the region.

This operation over these last few days has been nothing short of spectacular. Our partnership with Israel has been one of the greatest military achievements in recent history. A nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel and to our interests.

Iran has been the greatest obstacle to peace in the Middle East, and Iran is the largest state sponsor of terror. Their proxies include the terrorists of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and Iran has attacked and killed Americans for decades. Degrading their abilities to conduct terror is vital to regional stability.

As demonstrated with the Abraham Accords, our President has a record of achieving peace where others have thought it was impossible. With Iran on the sidelines, the possibilities are endless. President Trump has offered Iran another opportunity to pursue peace. They would be wise to accept.

From President Trump: “We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

This is a historic moment for our nation and for Israel. Our alliance has never been more necessary. As the Bible teaches us, there is a time for war and a time for peace. It is our great hope and prayer that this brings us closer to true peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will travel to Turkey’s capital Ankara and meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and will be available for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Istanbul as he wants the US President Donald Trump to understand that Putin is the real obstacle to peace.

Zelenskyy said that he wants the current period of frantic diplomacy and high-stakes gambit between Russia and Ukraine to end with direct talks in Istanbul, though the Kremlin has yet not confirmed whether Putin would attend the talks or skip it.

During a press briefing in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said that he will do everything to ensure that the meeting between Russia and Ukraine takes place in Turkey. The Ukrainian president has indicated that he would fly to Turkey whether or not Putin attends the direct talks.

Emergency response operations are currently underway in Kharkiv after a Russian drone strike. Another strike on an energy facility, a purely civilian one. Russia is being Russia. When everybody awaits Russia’s response to a ceasefire and direct negotiations, they respond with new… pic.twitter.com/CdaCWub0Ee — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 13, 2025

Russia is still to inform who would attend the meeting, except that it would be announced “as soon as [Putin] deems it necessary”. Zelenskyy and Putin haven’t met each other since December 2019.

Story continues below this ad

The previous such talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in March 2022 in Istanbul, a month after Russia had launched its full-scale invasion of Kyiv.

“Trump needs to believe that Putin actually lies. And we should do our part. Sensibly approach this issue, to show that it’s not us that is slowing down the process,” Zelenskyy said, The Guardian reported.

Story continues below this ad

Putin had initially called for a direct talk with Ukraine in Turkey “without any pre-condition” as Zelenskyy announced that he would be present in-person in the meeting and expects Putin to travel as well.

The US is also expected to send a high-level delegation, while Trump had posted on Truth Social that he might join the talks in Istanbul, if need be. The US president is currently on his Middle East tour, where he is visiting Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.

“I believe the two leaders are going to be there. I was thinking about flying over,” Trump had said.