Turkish foreign minister holds talks in Canada for cease-fire in Gaza

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, along with his counterparts assigned by the joint Arab-Islamic extraordinary summit, visited Canada on Saturday to push for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Fidan and the members of the Muslim group – formed to follow up the decisions taken at the extraordinary joint summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League on Nov. 11 – were received by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the capital Ottawa.

The delegation also met with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.

On Friday, the delegation was in the US to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, think tanks, and media organizations.

The extraordinary joint summit mandated the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Nigeria to take international action to stop the war in Gaza and achieve lasting peace.

The group has held meetings in Beijing, Moscow, London, Paris, Barcelona, New York, and Washington DC respectively for the last three weeks.

In its contacts so far, the delegation gave the message of starting a solution process – that will be carried out through UN parameters – for a permanent and fair peace after the cease-fire in Gaza.

They also called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the 1967 borders.

Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a week-long humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group Hamas.

At least 17,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 48,780 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.