Israel and Hamas have taken a major step toward ending their two-year-long war by agreeing to a deal in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in line with US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
Türkiye’s late participation in the negotiation process has raised questions about Ankara’s influence on the agreement – and what concrete role it might have in implementing it.
New York to Sharm el-Sheikh
Gaza was high on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s agenda during a visit to New York in late September for the UN General Assembly. On September 23, Erdogan participated in a Gaza-focused meeting with Trump, with whom he met again at the White House two days later.
After that meeting, the US President, without elaborating, said that he had asked his Turkish counterpart to do something for him. Erdogan later said the request was to help persuade Hamas, with which Turkey has close ties.
Ankara openly supports Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by both the US and the EU, and the Turkish president frequently refers to the Palestinian militant group as an “independence movement”.
On October 3, Trump and Erdogan spoke by phone, reportedly at the request of the White House. US media said the former had again asked for help in persuading Hamas during the call.
Following this high-level diplomatic exchange, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin – Erdogan’s former spokesman – attended the third round of peace talks in Egypt on October 8, also attended by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Previously, Türkiye was not directly involved in the two-year-long mediation efforts led by the US, Qatar and Egypt, nor in humanitarian efforts such as airdrops in Gaza.
According to the Israeli English-language daily jerusalem post, During the talks Turkey also managed to reach two Hamas groups believed to be holding hostages, who were previously unreachable due to internal communications breakdown.
After announcing his plan, Trump publicly thanked not only Qatar and Egypt, which had led the mediation from the beginning, but also Turkey.
Türkiye’s relations with Hamas
Turkey has maintained close relations with Hamas for many years, and Hamas officials have regularly visited Turkey over the past two years. On October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was reportedly in Istanbul.
Later, when he was on a visit to Tehran, the capital of Iran, Israel assassinated him.
It is known that Hamas operates at least one office in the Basaksehir district of Istanbul, which has been used for meetings with journalists. A civil society organization affiliated with Hamas is also based in the Fatih district of Istanbul. Some family members of Hamas officials are also believed to live in the city. However, it is not clear whether any of them have Turkish citizenship.
Turkish troops in Gaza?
Erdogan has confirmed that Turkey will play a role in a task force being formed as part of the US-backed agreement between Hamas and Israel, which Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said the country will help implement.
According to US and Israeli media reports, the task force will include up to 200 US troops as well as units from Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar. US sources say US troops will remain in Israel and will not enter Gaza. A Turkish official told British news agency Reuters that Turkey would help locate the remains of Israeli hostages believed to have died in Hamas custody.
Following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Turkey deployed civil protection teams to search for missing detainees from the notorious Sednaya prison and help identify unclaimed bodies.
The deployment of Turkish troops to Gaza for any purpose requires parliamentary approval, which the government is expected to secure swiftly and without difficulty.
On October 10, the Turkish Defense Ministry stated that the country’s armed forces are experienced in peacekeeping operations and are ready to take on any assigned mission.
However, many details remain unclear – such as the time frame and the number of Turkish personnel involved. Potential Israeli objections regarding Türkiye’s military presence in the region remain one of the main obstacles.