Foreign ministers meet in Turkey over regional conflicts

Turkey hosted meetings Friday with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and European nations — the UK, France, Germany and Italy — to discuss conflicts in the Middle East and efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is expected to press for diplomacy to ease tensions between the United States and Iran, stress the importance of freedom of navigation through Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandab Strait and reaffirm Turkey’s support for Saudi Arabia in the face of Houthi attacks.

At the opening of a conference on mediation in Istanbul ahead of the meetings, Fidan said that in an “increasingly deteriorating environment, the return of diplomacy and mediation for peaceful resolution of conflicts is now more necessary than ever.”