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Türkiye will convene foreign ministers from eight Muslim-majority nations Monday to advance ceasefire negotiations in Gaza, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced Thursday, marking the next phase of diplomatic efforts that began with a September meeting between the countries' leaders and President Donald Trump.
The Istanbul gathering will bring together top diplomats from Türkiye, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Egypt — the same nations whose heads of state or government met with Trump at the United Nations in September.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna at the Foreign Ministry, Fidan emphasized the urgency of the talks. "This meeting is very important for us," he said, adding that officials would assess progress made since the New York meeting and determine next steps.
Fidan described the common understanding that emerged from the September Trump meeting as laying groundwork for what he called "a peace plan and a historic agreement" in Gaza, characterizing it as "a ray of hope" for resolving the ongoing crisis.
The Monday discussions will address obstacles facing the peace process, necessary actions for the next phase, and potential support from Western allies and the United States, Fidan said. He stressed the need for continuous engagement, saying the issue "cannot be left idle for even a second" and declaring, "We need to own this issue."
The diplomatic initiative comes as the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians according to health authorities, approaches its two-year mark with no ceasefire in sight.
During the September meeting at UN headquarters, Trump promised the assembled Arab and Muslim leaders he would not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank, according to what six people familiar with the discussion told POLITICO. Two sources said Trump was firm on the topic, though another noted a ceasefire remained far from realization.
Trump's special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, later revealed at the Concordia summit that the administration had presented "the Trump 21-point-plan for peace in the Mideast in Gaza," which he said "addresses Israeli concerns and as well, the concerns of all the neighbors in the region."
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the September meeting as "fruitful" in a Fox News interview but provided no details.
Muslim leaders attending that session had aimed to impress upon Trump that any Israeli annexation of the West Bank would likely collapse the Abraham Accords — Trump's signature first-term foreign policy achievement that normalized relations between Israel and several Muslim nations. The accords came about in 2020 after Israel threatened West Bank annexation and the UAE offered normalized ties in exchange for Israeli restraint.
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