President Erdogan says Türkiye has stayed out of regional conflicts

Turkish president credits his government’s cautious approach with shielding country from escalating crises as conflicts spread across Middle East and beyond

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that Türkiye had stayed out of regional conflicts by resisting provocations and avoiding traps, crediting his government’s cautious and measured approach with helping the country navigate mounting instability across the region. “We have kept our country away from the conflicts around us. We have not yielded to provocations. We have not fallen into traps or been drawn into provocations. “We have successfully managed all these difficult processes intelligently, patiently and with common sense,” Erdogan said at the Presidential Complex in Ankara.   Mounting regional instability Erdogan said Türkiye was surrounded by escalating crises and that his government was working around the clock to protect the country from their consequences. “The Russia-Ukraine war just north of us will enter its fifth year in a few months. Israel’s attacks on Palestine continue unabated despite the agreements that have been signed,” he said. He added that tensions in neighboring Iran had yet to fully subside when a new conflict erupted in Yemen. Attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement targeting Saudi Arabia, which Erdogan described as a friend and brotherly country, had further heightened regional tensions, he said. Erdogan also said an attack on an airport in Riyadh had killed numerous Muslims, including people performing Umrah, the pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken outside the annual Hajj season, and wounded hundreds more. Turning to Lebanon, he said the situation remained troubling. He also accused Israel of trying to destabilize Syria despite what he described as positive developments there. “As I often say, we are surrounded by a ring of fire. That is exactly the situation we face,” Erdogan said. Reiterating his government’s commitment to protecting Türkiye from the turmoil, he said the country had so far avoided being drawn into neighboring conflicts.