Turkey’s FM says ‘no reason to have open conflict’ with Israel, in apparent bid to calm tensions

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrives to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, June 17, 2026. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrives to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Kazan, Russia, June 17, 2026. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says Turkey and Israel aren’t destined for conflict, in remarks apparently aimed at pulling Ankara back from an increasingly heated rhetorical war with Jerusalem.

“I think there is no reason to have an open conflict,” Fidan says in an interview with the National.

“I’ve been telling, whenever I hear this rhetoric (against Turkey coming from the Israeli politicians, especially as they get closer to the upcoming elections, from both coalition and opposition figures — not all the opposition figures. Thank God, there are still very sane and good people with wisdom and strategic mind in Israel.”

“Not all of them are like Netanyahu and some people, but Netanyahu and some people, as they get closer to the elections, they need an enemy. They were at war Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, and now they need another enemy,” Fidan adds, saying the enemy has become Turkey for many Israeli politicians.

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