Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned against a “new Sykes-Picot order” in the Middle East and called for stronger solidarity among Islamic nations to counter Israeli actions and regional destabilisation.
“We will not allow the establishment of a new Sykes-Picot order in our region with borders to be drawn in blood,” Erdogan said at the 51st Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.
He described the conditions in Gaza as worse than those of Nazi concentration camps, noting that “2 million of our sisters and brothers in Gaza have been struggling to survive under these conditions for 21 months.”
Erdogan expressed confidence in the resilience of the Iranian people amid the current conflict. “We have no doubt that the Iranian people, with their solidarity in the face of difficulties and strong state experience, will hopefully overcome these days,” he said.
He also urged Islamic countries to stand firm against Israel’s actions beyond Gaza. “We must show greater solidarity to stop Israel’s acts of banditry not only in Palestine but also in Syria, Lebanon, and Iran,” Erdogan added.
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Welcoming Syria’s reintegration into the OIC, he emphasised: “Syria needs the support of all of us, the entire Islamic world, to protect its territorial integrity, national unity, and achieve lasting stability.
Erdogan’s remarks came amid growing calls for Islamic cooperation in response to escalating conflicts across the region.
The special session of the 51st OIC Council of Foreign Ministers is expected to focus on Israel’s recent strikes against Iran, including Thursday’s attack on the Khondab nuclear site in Arak.
The Israeli military said it targeted a partially built heavy-water reactor at the site, which experts say could produce weapons-grade plutonium.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which includes 57 member states, has long served as a political and diplomatic forum for Muslim countries.
The Israel-Iran conflict has continued to intensify, with missile exchanges and aerial assaults escalating further as diplomatic efforts in Geneva failed to produce a ceasefire breakthrough. Iran on Saturday reported 430 dead and 3,500 wounded since June 13, while Israel has confirmed 24 deaths and over 800 injuries.
Iran launched drone and missile strikes targeting Ben Gurion Airport and Israeli military sites, claiming success in hitting several targets. In response, Israel announced the killing of a senior IRGC Quds Force commander in Qom.
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Meanwhile, Iran’s envoy to the UN filed a formal complaint against IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, accusing him of bias and failure to condemn Israeli strikes on safeguarded nuclear sites.
The US intelligence community remains divided over Iran’s nuclear capabilities, with critics drawing parallels to the flawed intelligence that justified the Iraq war.
Despite mounting global concern, including warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin about the risk of World War III, the prospects for de-escalation remain uncertain.
While Israel launched attacks on Iran under the pretext of Tehran’s nuclear weapons programme, the US intelligence community, for its part, remains divided over the status of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Despite public statements, some reports suggest it would take Iran up to three years to build a nuclear warhead.
Many critics have argued the nuclear weapons pretext mirrors the flawed intelligence that led to the Iraq war, raising fears of history repeating itself.
The Iraq war, launched on false claims of weapons of mass destruction, unleashed decades of bloodshed and regional instability that still haunt the region today.
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Similar to the Iraq war, other US-led regime change campaigns in Syria and Libya have sparked widespread violence, fueled the rise of terrorism, caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, and left deep-rooted instability that continues to impact the region.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has meanwhile called on all parties to “give peace a chance.”
