US President Donald Trump has described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a “great leader” as Ankara spearheads a regional diplomatic push to avert a wider conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran.
Turkey is currently coordinating with Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to promote a 15-point peace plan proposed by Washington to Tehran. While Ankara initially sought to host a four-way summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the meeting will now take place in Islamabad on 30 March to accommodate his Pakistani counterpart.
Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Miami, Trump lauded the Turkish president for his handling of the Iran crisis.
“They were fantastic,” Trump said, referring to the Turks. “They stayed out of things we told them to stay away from. We helped our allies, we saw our other allies. We saw that other allies were not there. We don’t need them, but they didn’t help us when we needed them. And that is going to cost them dearly,” the US President said.
The comments come as Erdogan branded the regional conflict a “pointless war” during an address to the World Economic Forum in Istanbul on Saturday.
“All of humanity, as well as the parties involved in the conflict, are paying the price for this senseless, illegal, and unnecessary war, which has deeply shaken our region over the past month,” Erdogan said.
Observers suggest that if a peace initiative materialises between Washington and Tehran in the coming days, Turkey stands to be among the primary beneficiaries of a ceasefire.