Turkey warns blocking Trump’s Gaza plan would be ‘huge failure’ for US, world

Fidan said a credible Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, well-trained police force were needed to allow Hamas to disarm.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Saturday that it would be a “huge failure” for the world and Washington if the U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire plan is not advanced to the next stage, noting that President Donald Trump has personally led the effort.

Fidan said in an interview on the sidelines of the Doha forum that a credible Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, well-trained police force are needed to allow Hamas to disarm and the group to prepare to hand over control of the Gaza Strip.

“First, we need to see the Palestinian Council of Technicians taking over the administration of Gaza, and then we need to see a police force being formed to police Gaza — again, made up of Palestinians, not Hamas.”

NATO member Türkiye has been one of the strongest critics of Israel’s attacks on Gaza. It played a key role in brokering the ceasefire agreement, signing it as a guarantor. Israel has repeatedly expressed its willingness to jointly supervise the implementation of the agreement, but Israel strongly opposes it.

Negotiations continue to advance the next phase of President Trump’s plan to end the two-year conflict in Gaza.

The plan envisions the establishment of an interim technocratic Palestinian government in the enclave, overseen by an international “peace council” and backed by multinational security forces. Negotiations over the force’s composition and mission proved particularly difficult.

Fidan said the Gaza police force would be supported by the International Stabilization Force. He added that Washington was pressuring Israel over Turkey joining the force and had expressed a willingness to deploy troops if necessary.

Fidan says Syrian Kurdish self-defense forces are unwilling to integrate

Asked about the landmark deal reached in March in which the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus agreed to integrate the SDF into Syria’s state structures, Fidan said the SDF had sent a signal that it had “no intention” of abiding by the deal and was instead trying to sidestep it.

Ankara considers the SDF a terrorist organization and has threatened military action if regulations are not followed, setting a deadline of the end of this year.

“I think they (the Self-Defense Forces) should understand that command and control should come from one place,” Fidan added. “No country can have two armies. So there can only be one army, one command body… But in local administration they can arrive at different solutions and different understandings.”

Nearly a year after the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad, Fidan said some issues over minority rights had not been resolved and insisted Turkey’s support for Syria’s new government was not a “blank check” to oppress any group.

He said Damascus was taking steps to achieve national unity but that Israel’s “destabilizing policies” were the main obstacle.

Israel has launched frequent attacks in southwestern Syria this year, citing threats from armed groups and the need to protect Druze communities near the border. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he wanted Syria to establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to the border.

Türkiye: US sanctions may be lifted ‘soon’

Fidan also said that the 28-point plan originally proposed by Washington to end the Russia-Ukraine war was just a “starting point” and is now being developed in a new form. He said the mediation by U.S. officials was “on the right track.”

“I just hope that no one leaves the table and that Americans don’t get frustrated, because sometimes they can get frustrated if the mediator doesn’t see enough encouragement from both sides.”

Asked about efforts to lift U.S. sanctions imposed in 2020 over Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems, he said both sides were working on it, adding: “I believe we will soon find a way to remove this obstacle.”