Türkiye hosts Pakistan, Saudi, Egypt FMs in high-stakes Middle East diplomatic push

Türkiye yesterday (17 April) hosted a high-stakes diplomatic forum bringing together the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz open and Islamabad steps up efforts to help end the Middle East war.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the shortest route to peace lay in dialogue and diplomacy.

"I believe the window of opportunity opened by the ceasefire should be used in the most effective way to establish lasting peace," he told the opening of the three-day Antalya Diplomacy Forum at the Mediterranean resort.

"No matter how deep the disagreements may be, we must not allow words to be replaced again by weapons," he said, adding that "the shortest cut to peace is constructive dialogue and diplomacy".

The foreign ministers of Türkiye, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt met yesterday later on the sidelines of the forum, hours after Tehran declared Hormuz open to commercial shipping.

A photo released by the Turkish foreign ministry showed the foreign ministers of four countries meeting in a diplomatic setting.

Pakistan has sought to position itself as a key regional mediator, having hosted rare talks between Iran and the United States last weekend that ended without a breakthrough.

The White House said further talks with Iran would "very likely" take place in Islamabad, where Vice President JD Vance led the US delegation during the previous round of negotiations.

We must be vigilant

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who met Qatar's ruler in Doha on Thursday as part of a regional tour, attended the opening of the Antalya forum and also met Erdogan on its margins on Friday.

"We will continue to provide all the support we can to ensure that the ongoing temporary ceasefire turns into a permanent one," a Turkish defence ministry source said on Thursday.

The source added that Ankara hoped the war "whose effects are being felt increasingly not only regionally but also globally" would end swiftly, with all parties engaging constructively in negotiations.

Türkiye, a vocal critic of Israel, has joined diplomatic efforts with Egypt and Pakistan to help secure a ceasefire in the conflict, while maintaining that the truce should also apply to Lebanon.

Erdogan did not comment directly on the latest ceasefire reached between Israel and Lebanon but warned against attempts to derail talks.

"We must be prepared and vigilant against Israel's attempts to dynamite the negotiation process," he said.

Turning to the Strait of Hormuz, Erdogan said access to the waterway must not be restricted. His words came shortly before Iran's declaration.

"One side of Hormuz is Iran, while the other side is Oman. The right of Gulf countries to access open seas must not be restricted," he told the forum, calling for freedom of navigation "based on established rules" and for the strait to remain open to commercial vessels.

More than 150 countries are taking part in the gathering, including more than 20 heads of state and government.

Among those attending are Syrian President Ahmed al?Sharaa and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Speaking earlier on Friday, Sharaa said he could consider "long?term negotiations" with Israel over the disputed Golan Heights if Israel agreed to withdraw from recently occupied Syrian territories.

Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al?Assad in December 2024, Israel has deployed troops into a UN?patrolled buffer zone that for decades separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.