Last week, Ankara decided to restrict the exports of 54 types of products to Israel until it declares a ceasefire.

Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is scheduled to visit Qatar on Wednesday, with the war on Gaza and Doha-Ankara relations on the agenda, the Turkish foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.

Hakan is expected to meet Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha.

“During the meeting, bilateral relations as well as the situation in Palestine and regional developments will be discussed,” the Turkish foreign ministry added.

Fidan was in Doha on October 25, 2023, as part of a tour that included Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in an attempt to push for a ceasefire. The Turkish official had met with Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during his visit.

In a joint press conference at the time, Sheikh Mohammed and Fidan called out “backers” of Israel’s war in Gaza. 

On Monday, Sheikh Tamim and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the developments in Gaza and regional escalations over the phone. 

“Both sides stressed the need to reduce all forms of escalation and avoid the expansion of the conflict in the region, in addition to the importance of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, in order to achieve a permanent and final solution to the Palestinian issue,” the Amiri Diwan said.

The phone call came amid increased regional tensions triggered by Israel’s war on Gaza.

Iran launched an attack on Israel on Saturday night in retaliation for the bombing of its consulate in Damascus on April 1. The Israeli attack killed seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), including two generals.

Qatar, Russia, China, Turkiye, the UAE, Egypt, and Jordan had called for restraint. The U.S., European Union, UK, United Nations, and the Group of Seven leaders condemned the attack.

Tehran also said that it had notified Turkiye and regional countries about the planned attack 72 hours in advance, something that the U.S. denied.

Turkiye has also been working on reducing regional tensions.

Last week, Turkish intelligence director Ibrahim Kalin spoke to CIA director William Burns. In the phone call, Burns reportedly asked Kalin to mediate between Iran and Israel.

Kalin also spoke with Hamas’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday about Gaza’s ceasefire negotiations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire have stalled since the expiration of a truce last year that lasted between November 24 and December 1. Mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the truce led to the release of at least 110 captives from Hamas in Gaza.

On Sunday, Hamas presented mediators Qatar and Egypt with a new three-phased proposal that entailed a ceasefire and lifting of Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

Talks have yet to yield a breakthrough as Israel intensifies its brutal war on Gaza, where it killed nearly 34,000 people while causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Despite maintaining ties with Israel, Turkiye has taken a harder stance towards Tel Aviv since the beginning of the war.

On December 27, 2023, President Erdogan said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was no different from Adolf Hitler.

“They used to speak ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not,” Erdogan said at the time.

“He is richer than Hitler, he gets the support from the West. All sorts of support comes from the United States. And what did they do with all this support? They killed more than 20,000 Gazans,” Erdogan added.

Last week, Ankara decided to restrict the exports of 54 types of products to Israel until it declares a ceasefire. The products included aluminium, steel, construction products, jet fuel and chemical fertilizers, according to the Associated Press.

The decision came after Fidan said Israel stopped the Turkish military from joining airdrop aid operations.

“There is no excuse for Israel to block our attempt to deliver aid by air to starving people of Gaza,” Fidan said on April 10.