Turkey wants pressure from Muslim leaders to hamstring Israel’s military campaign against Iran. Immediately following Israel’s precision strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, atomic scientists, and military leadership, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s actions. He then initiated a frenzy of telephone diplomacy with regional heads of state, urging them to denounce Israel’s attack.
Erdogan described Jerusalem’s strikes as a “provocation,” asserting that the Jewish state “disregarded international law” while remaining silent about Tehran’s illicit nuclear efforts. He also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “and his massacre network” of “setting [the] entire region on fire.” With such rhetoric, Erdogan seeks to position himself as Israel’s most vocal critic in the region, vying to replace a weakened Iran.
On June 13, Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, convened a meeting of the country’s top national security officials, including Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Director of National Intelligence (MIT) Ibrahim Kalin, and Chairman of the General Staff Metin Gurak. The four echoed Erdogan’s sentiments, and Fidan issued a joint statement claiming that Israel is “destabiliz[ing] Lebanon, invad[ing] Syria and is now targeting Iran.” The statement added that the Jewish state “must immediately abandon its strategy of destabilizing the region.”
On June 14 and June 15, Erdogan placed telephone calls to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan — with the common theme of pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s military campaign against Iran. Erdogan also called Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to offer his “condolences to the Iranian people over the loss of lives” and stressed that Israel’s entire motivation for targeting Iran was to “divert the world’s attention away from the genocide in Gaza.” Erdogan also spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump, offering Turkish efforts to mediate a diplomatic end to the hostilities between Iran and Israel.
Despite portraying himself as a leader who loathes war and instability, Erdogan’s calls for diplomacy between Jerusalem and Tehran contrast awkwardly with his ongoing support for Hamas. For years, even after the October 7, 2023, massacre against Israel, Turkey has served as a forward operating base for senior Hamas leadership. Turkey has also allowed the organization to engage in fundraising and recruitment and to plan terrorist attacks against the Jewish state.
Washington should not mistake Erdogan’s diplomacy for actual peacemaking. Furthermore, Washington must warn Ankara against any engagement either by itself or in concert with other regional powers, that targets Israel militarily.
While Turkey remains a NATO member, the United States should not provide Ankara with advanced weapon systems it might share with U.S. adversaries, potentially undermining U.S. superiority on the battlefield. Accordingly, the first Trump administration removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program in 2019 after Ankara purchased the Russian-made S-400 air defense system. Congress later codified in law Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 program so long as it possesses the S-400.
Since the Trump administration returned to office in January 2025, Ankara has increased its efforts to persuade the White House to circumvent the congressional prohibition via tendentious interpretations of key words in the statutory language. The White House should brush aside such bad-faith efforts and be clear that it will enforce the law precisely as Congress intended.
Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 also triggered sanctions under the Countering of America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), and these sanctions should remain in place as long as Ankara maintains its significant relationship with the Russian defense establishment. If Turkey wants all the benefits of being a U.S. ally, it must behave like one.
Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Tyler Stapleton is director of congressional relations at FDD Action. For more analysis from Sinan and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow them on X @SinanCiddi and @Ty_D_Stapleton. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. FDD Action is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(4) organization related to FDD, established to advocate for effective policies to promote U.S. national security and defend free nations.