Chile’s foreign minister sees Türkiye as key player in Middle East amid escalation

By Rabia Iclal Turan

NEW YORK (AA) - Chile's foreign minister expressed deep concern Monday over the escalating situation in the Middle East, saying Türkiye could play a constructive role in helping stabilize the region.

"We're extremely concerned by the situation in the Middle East," Alberto van Klaveren told Anadolu at UN headquarters in New York, when asked about Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and rising tensions in the Middle East.

Chile is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities outside the Middle East, a factor that has led to close monitoring of the situation, according to van Klaveren.

“In Chile, there is a very important Palestinian community. We follow the conflict very closely,” he noted, highlighting his country's strong ties to the region.

Calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, van Klaveren stressed the urgent need to prevent further bloodshed.

“It has been too long; too many dead people and too many violations of international humanitarian law,” he said.

Asked about Türkiye's role in resolving the crisis, van Klaveren emphasized the constructive influence Ankara could have.

“Türkiye can play a very constructive role in the area,” he said.

Chile this month officially filed a declaration of intervention in a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli figures, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

According to Gaza health authorities, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed nearly 41,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 95,700.

Tensions have also risen between Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel amid escalating cross-border attacks and growing fears of a full-scale war in the region.