Turkish foreign minister holds talks in New York on sideline of UN meeting

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is holding closed-door talks Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of a UN Security Council meeting.

Fidan will later address the Council’s meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Ahead of the high-level Council session, Fidan met his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, at the Turkish House in New York.

Fidan also held a closed-door meeting with Geir Pedersen, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Syria, at Turkish House.

He received the delegation of the Turkish American National Steering Committee at the Turkish House. Turkish Foreign Ministry did not provide information about the closed-door meeting.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will brief the Council meeting and will include senior foreign ministers and ambassadors from the 15 Council members -- together with other nations -- that will have their say on the deepening crisis in the Gaza Strip that is facing a humanitarian crisis from Israel’s unrelenting military operation, mounting death toll and escalating calls for an immediate cease-fire.

Israel has pounded Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, killing at least 25,295 Palestinians and injuring 63,000. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.