Newsletters
Türkiye's intelligence chief warned that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran risks igniting a decades-long conflict among Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians, saying the war that began Feb. 28 has rapidly spread beyond Iran to engulf the entire Gulf region.
Ibrahim Kalin, head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), also stated that Israel has repeatedly sabotaged diplomatic efforts to establish a negotiation framework.
Speaking at the STRATCOM Summit 2026 organized by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, Kalin said Ankara had mounted an intensive effort under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's leadership, involving the foreign minister, defense minister, MIT, and other agencies, to prevent the war before it started.
"We are in the middle of the Israel-U.S.-Iran war that started on Feb. 28 and has been going on for a month," Kalin said.
"Unfortunately, this regional war started by Israel is rapidly becoming a global crisis and, in the words of our president, a war whose price is paid by 8 billion people," he noted.
Kalin said Türkiye had pursued two priorities since the conflict began: ending the war and keeping Türkiye out of it.
Kalin said Ankara fully supports Pakistan's mediation initiative to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table, expressing full confidence in Pakistan's ability to deliver results.
"We fully support the helping hand and initiative extended by our Pakistani brothers on this matter. We do not doubt that our Pakistani brothers will do a competent job," Kalin said.
However, he accused Israel of undermining every diplomatic effort. "Just as before the war, Israel has been making an intense effort to sabotage every negotiation initiative, every effort to open a dialogue and communication channel, with its attacks over the last two days," he added.
He also confirmed that Türkiye continues diplomatic efforts around the clock to establish conditions for a negotiation process.
Türkiye's intelligence chief identified what he called the most dangerous calculated outcome of the war, not merely the destruction of Iran's nuclear capability but the deliberate creation of conditions for prolonged ethnic conflict.
"One of the calculated results of this war is not just the elimination of Iran's nuclear capacity but, far more dangerously, taking steps that will lay the groundwork for a fraternal war, a blood feud among the founding essential elements of the region, Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians, that will continue for decades," Kalin said.
He pledged Türkiye would resist these dynamics, stating, "As Türkiye, we have never been and will never be the side that carries wood to the fire of sedition."
"If necessary, we will take the fireball in our hands and cool it in our chest, but we will never throw it into the fire of sedition," he added.
Kalin stated that the war against Iran has no basis in international law and accused Israel of using the conflict to pursue annexation and occupation across Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories.
"We see that the developments in Lebanon in recent days are an attempt to create a de facto situation similar to what happened in the Golan Heights in 1974 and to turn it into a policy of destruction, annexation and occupation," he said.
He noted that Türkiye would not allow Palestinian rights to be stripped through fait accompli in Gaza and the West Bank.
Kalin also noted that while attacks on Iran are wrong, Iran's retaliatory strikes on Gulf countries are equally unacceptable, adding that Türkiye has emphasized in consultations with Gulf nations that any path to ending the war must be rooted in the region's own dynamics.
"Of course, Iran's attacks on Gulf countries are unacceptable, but we must never forget who the main actor that started the war is," Kalin noted.
"For this reason, we need to increase pressure on Israel and focus on the actor that started the war to prevent it from turning into a regional war and a global crisis," he added.
Kalin said that once the war ends, Türkiye will work to establish a regional security architecture based on the region's own dynamics, noting that Ankara is already drawing important lessons from the conflict to strengthen the country's security posture and strategic positioning under Erdogan's leadership.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
