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Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan declared that Israel bears responsibility for dragging the Middle East into "an unprecedented crisis," as he met with senior Qatari leaders on Thursday during a multi-country diplomatic tour aimed at finding a path to end the widening regional conflict.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Doha alongside Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani, Fidan issued a sharp condemnation of strikes originating from Iran that have hit civilian targets.
"We condemn and reject the attacks on civilian infrastructure and the people," Fidan said, adding that "Türkiye stands with Qatar and will continue to stand with Qatar."
Fidan placed the broader blame for the region's turmoil squarely on Israel. "The party responsible for plunging our region into this unprecedented crisis is, as you know, Israel," he told reporters.
The Doha stop is part of a wider regional tour that Fidan announced on Tuesday and launched on Wednesday, with the stated objective of discussing possible measures to halt the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The tour comes against the backdrop of rapidly escalating instability following a joint US-Israeli military offensive against Iran that began on February 28, and Tehran's subsequent retaliatory strikes across multiple countries in the region.
During his visit to Qatar on Thursday, Fidan held talks with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
Earlier in the day, the foreign minister also visited the Qatar-Türkiye Joint Combined Forces Command Headquarters, a facility that underscores the depth of the bilateral military relationship between Ankara and Doha.
Türkiye established its military base in Qatar in 2014 under a bilateral defense agreement, and the facility has since served as a visible symbol of the close strategic partnership between the two nations.
The joint command headquarters has played a role in defense cooperation, training, and coordination, making Fidan's visit there a pointed gesture of solidarity at a moment of heightened regional tension.
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