Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is likely to step up efforts to build ties with the Middle East and North Africa after taking steps in that direction as head of the national intelligence agency, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports.
Fidan, 54, replaced Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday, becoming the second foreign minister with a military background since the inception of modern Turkey. He had been holding back-channel talks to improve diplomatic relations with countries such as Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Syria, the people told Bloomberg, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the information.