Pope Leo meets Erdogan, says two-state solution is the ‘only’ path forward in Middle East

JTA – Following a visit in Turkey last week, Pope Leo XIV said that he had spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about their shared support for a two-state solution, which Leo called the “only solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Leo’s comments to reporters on Sunday, 30 November, came while he travelled from Turkey to Lebanon on the papal plane as part of his first international tour since being elected to the papacy in May. 

During his address, Leo thanked Erdogan, who has consistently voiced support for Hamas and fostered hostile relations with Israel, for helping to co-ordinate the trip and for hosting him on his personal helicopter. 

Asked by a reporter whether he had spoken to Erdogan about the conflict in Gaza, Leo said that the Turkish leader was “certainly in agreement” about the proposal for a two-state solution, and that he believed that Turkey had an “important role that it could play in all of this”. 

Leo also said that he hoped to play a “mediating role” in the conflict, and criticised Israel for rejecting a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected Palestinian statehood, and the United States-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas doesn’t include provisions for a Palestinian state, though it positions itself as part of a roadmap to statehood. 

“We all know that at present, Israel still doesn’t accept this solution, but we see it as the only solution that could offer, let us say, an answer to the conflict they continue to live in,” Leo said in Italian to reporters. “We are also friends of Israel, and we are trying to act as a mediating voice for both sides, helping to bring about a solution that is fair for everyone.” 

In September, Leo met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and told the leader that he believed the two-state solution was the only way out of the conflict in Gaza. 

Leo’s remarks echoed similar appeals he made shortly after his election. In May, he made two public addresses where he called for a ceasefire in Gaza and decried the suffering of families in the enclave during the conflict. 

On Thursday, Erdogan praised Leo’s advocacy for Palestinians, and called for a Palestinian state based on the “1967 borders”, which refer to a state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. 

“We commend [Pope Leo’s] astute stance on the Palestinian issue,” Erdogan said during an address in Ankara. “Our debt to the Palestinian people is justice, and the foundation of this is to implement immediately the vision of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. Similarly, preserving the historic status of Jerusalem is crucial.” 

Leo’s trip to the region comes the same week that the “popemobile” that belonged to his predecessor, Pope Francis, debuted in Gaza in its retrofitted version as a mobile paediatric health clinic.