The head of Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization warned Saturday that the ongoing war involving Israel, the US, and Iran risks escalating into a wider global crisis if it continues.
Speaking at the Stratcom Summit 2026 in Istanbul, Ibrahim Kalin said: "Since the pandemic, our world has been going through many critical thresholds, crises, and ruptures."
The Russia-Ukraine war that began in 2022 recently entered its fifth year and there is still no clear picture of how it will end, he said.
Kalin also said the consequences of the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023 between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas continue to be felt.
"While efforts to realize peace in Gaza continue, Israel's violations and its policies of occupation and annexation continue without interruption," he said.
On developments in the region, Kalin said the 12-day Israel-Iran war last June tested the conditions of the current Iran conflict.
"We are currently in the middle of the Israel/US-Iran war that began on Feb. 28 and has continued for about a month," he said.
Kalin said Türkiye has made intense diplomatic efforts to prevent the Iran war from emerging and to stop it from spreading, warning that it risks expanding beyond the region.
"Unfortunately, the regional war initiated by Israel is rapidly moving toward becoming a global crisis," as the Turkish president has warned, he said. It risks becoming a "war for which 8 billion people will pay the price."
"Our entire effort is first and foremost for this war to end as soon as possible," he said.
- TÜRKİYE HAS NEVER FUELED THE FIRE OF DISCORD
He also warned that the conflict could deepen divisions in the region.
"One of the calculated outcomes of this war is not only the elimination of Iran's nuclear capacity but, more dangerously, steps laying the groundwork for decades of fratricidal conflict among the region's founding peoples -- Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians," he said.
Kalin stressed that Türkiye will not contribute to such divisions.
"Türkiye has never been and never will be a party that fuels the fire of discord," he said. "If necessary, we will take the fireball in our hands and cool it on our chest, but we will never throw it into the fire of discord."
He said the war against Iran lacks legal grounds under international law.
Kalin also warned against attempts to create new faits accomplis in the region.
"We know very well that those who started this war are trying to create new facts on the ground in Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian territories, and elsewhere through policies of destruction, annexation, and occupation," he said.
He added that Türkiye would not allow Palestinian rights to be ignored.
"We will not allow the fundamental rights of Palestinians to be taken away through faits accomplis or the violations in Gaza and the West Bank to be ignored," he said.
"Attacks by Iran on Gulf countries are unacceptable," said Kalin. "But we must never forget who started the war."
He said Türkiye supports diplomatic efforts to establish negotiations, including initiatives by Pakistan.
"We fully support the helping hand extended by our Pakistani brothers on this," he said.
However, Kalin said Israel has undermined efforts to open dialogue.
"As before the war, we see that Israel has been making intensive efforts to sabotage attempts to open negotiation and communication channels," he said.
Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran that has so far killed more than 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.
- 'COMMUNICATION IS AN EFFORT TO CONSTRUCT MEANING'
Beyond the conflict, Kalin also warned that the modern world is overwhelmed by information but increasingly detached from truth.
"We live in an age where information is abundant, knowledge is diminishing, and wisdom has nearly disappeared," he said.
"Communication is not only an effort to transmit information and messages," he said. "Communication is also an effort to construct meaning," he argued.
"If you do not name something, it is not yours. If you do not tell the story, it is not your story," Kalin said, calling on societies to develop their own conceptual frameworks and narratives.
