Minister Fidan's statement on Iran's retaliatory attacks: The targeting of our country and Azerbaijan has once again shown how great the risk is

Here are the highlights from Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's press statement following the informal meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Turkic States:

"We are closely following the developments in the region. We do not want the war to spread further. We have adopted a joint statement regarding the developments.

The war in our region must end as soon as possible. We have made efforts for months to establish a negotiation table. Lasting peace is only possible through dialogue and cooperation. Israel has determined as a strategy that there should be instability and civil wars throughout the region. We have adopted a policy in favor of peace against this stance of Israel.

Despite the ring of fire around it, Turkey maintains its peace, security, and stability.

Underlining that Turkey maintains its peace, security, and stability despite the ring of fire around it, Fidan said, "This is not a coincidence. It is the result of the accurate foreign policy we have pursued under the leadership of our President (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan)."

Stating, "I would like to emphasize once again that we condemn in the strongest terms the attacks targeting third countries," Fidan said, "Attacks on Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain put the lives of innocent civilians at risk and increase the possibility of the war spreading."

Fidan stated, "The targeting of our country and Azerbaijan this week has once again shown how great the risk we are facing is," and conveyed that they have repeatedly reminded that similar incidents should not be repeated.

"Attacking the civilian infrastructure and energy infrastructure of countries that do not allow their airspace to be used by other countries and do not allow the use of other military bases located in their own countries is not the right strategy," Fidan said, pointing out that these countries have been in a collective effort for regional development, infrastructure, and stability in recent years.

Fidan said, "This would also somewhat play into the hands of the Israeli expansionism taking place in the region. We have said that this is not the right strategy."

"(Iranian President) Mr. (Masoud) Pezeshkian's statement today is exactly in the context we have established. The statement, 'We will not attack a place that does not allow attacks and does not attack; we apologize for having attacked so far,' is essentially a statement that we have underlined," Fidan said, noting that various annotations have been made regarding this statement in Iran, but that this is a situation within the Iranian system itself.