Yusuf İnan
Journalist | Opinion Writer
Wise News Press – Izmir, Türkiye

Trump Is Ending Wars—Next Must Be Ukraine vs. Russia

No one expected President Donald Trump to prise open a door to peace in the Middle East. Yet the ceasefire reached in Sharm el-Sheikh between Israel and Hamas—while it cannot heal two years of agony—may be the most concrete first step to stop the bleeding. Assigning blame to only one side is easy but shallow: Israel’s disproportionate use of force is real; Hamas’s strategic and moral failures are real. A spark became a firestorm, and women, children, civilians died.

For Turks, that land resonates in living memory. Our grandfathers are buried there; our soldiers’ stories still echo. As descendants of an empire whose doors were forced open and homes looted, we feel each tremor in Gaza in our own chest. Pain, however, does not by itself produce policy.

“Atifaq: whoever kills a single soul unjustly is as if he has slain all humanity; whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved all humanity.” (Qur’an, 5:32)

That should be the measure of statesmanship. Trump’s plan—hostage releases, a durable ceasefire, phased withdrawal, civilian administration under international guarantees—says, in essence: “Let right and power meet in peace, not in domination.” If he wields America’s power for peace, he will find the “paradise” of public esteem he seeks. Durable peace in the Middle East requires more than silenced guns: visible justice, protected human dignity, transparent aid flows and a governance mechanism with social legitimacy. If the opportunity has emerged, everyone has a duty to enlarge it.

We now need the same clear thinking on the Ukrainian front. The war sparked by Russia’s invasion is exhausting not only Ukraine but Russia’s own future. Young lives are drained at the front, the economy wheezes, cultural isolation deepens. Moscow’s “security” rationale fails to persuade in the face of real-world devastation. Russians pay the bill of sanctions and exclusion; the longer the Kremlin stays this course, the darker the page that awaits in the history books.

President Vladimir Putin stands at a fork in the road. He can sacrifice 21st-century realities to 20th-century ambitions—an imperial nostalgia that will burn more lives. Or he can choose genuine statecraft: step back, reopen negotiations, and help rebuild a credible European security architecture. Power endures only with peace; a regime of fear ultimately devours its author.

Here, Trump can re-enter as a mediator who has already seen shore. A package that guarantees Kyiv’s security and territorial integrity while allowing Moscow to leave the table with its face intact is difficult—but not impossible. Turkey can anchor the effort. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Black Sea Grain Corridor showed the value of keeping channels open in crisis. A Washington–Ankara–Moscow triangle, with European guarantees, could turn a ceasefire into a settlement.

Of course, peace is not a wish list on paper. It gains meaning through verification on the ground, credible security assurances, fair compensation, and reconstruction that restores normal life. But every long journey begins with three words spoken by responsible leaders: “Enough. Stop now.”

Today the world does not need louder war cries; it needs the courage to say “enough.” Trump, Putin, Erdoğan—each is powerful at home and consequential abroad. If they convert the Middle East ceasefire into a lasting peace and silence the guns in Ukraine, a Nobel medal would hang not only on their necks but on humanity’s conscience. Awards, in truth, are the report cards written by tomorrow’s children.

“A single life saved is the saving of all mankind.” Borders are drawn on maps, but the frontiers of civilization are drawn by conscience—and conscience is unambiguous. Let us start counting victories not by the blast of bombs but by the return of silence. The true triumph is the first baby’s cry heard after the guns go quiet: life, hope, peace.

Let us gather for peace. Let us join hands along the line of love—so that history remembers our courage not to kill, but to save.

Yusuf İnan 

www.sehitlerolmez.com

Yusuf İnan is a journalist and writer.
He serves as Editor-in-Chief of WiseNewsPress.com, SehitlerOlmez.com, and YerelGundem.com.
He specializes in strategic and political analysis on Turkish and global affairs.