ANKARA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to Washington in lieu of President Tayyip Erdogan for the inaugural meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" on Thursday, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

A Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters that Fidan, during the talks, would call for determined steps to resolve the Palestinian issue and emphasizethat Israel must end actions to hinder the flow of aid into Gaza and stop its ceasefire violations.

ISTANBUL, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he is pleased to see steps taken in neighbouring Syria to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into state structures, after a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal late last month between the sides.

In a readout on Wednesday of his comments to reporters on a return flight from Ethiopia, Erdogan was cited as saying Ankara is closely monitoring the Syrian integration steps and providing guidance on implementing the agreement.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)

By Ece Toksabay

ANKARA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - A Turkish parliamentary commission was set to vote on Wednesday on adopting a draft report to facilitate the disarmament of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which would advance a peace process meant to end a more than 40-year conflict.

The roughly 60-page report, shared with reporters ahead of the vote in Ankara, proposes making legal reforms in parallel with the PKK laying down arms, urging the judiciary to review legislation and comply with European Court of Human Rights and Constitutional Court rulings.

By Jana Choukeir, Andrew Mills and Maha El Dahan

DUBAI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The departure of the chief executive of Dubai port giant DP World is the biggest fallout in the Middle East from U.S. Department of Justice documents whichshowthat disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein tried to build a powerful network of political figures and business leaders across the region.

Feb 18 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday night about U.S.-mediated Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Geneva, as well as talks between the U.S. and Iran on their nuclear dispute, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Starmer also discussed Gaza with Trump and stressed on the importance of securing further access for humanitarian aid, the spokesperson said.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Vatican will not participate in U.S. President Donald Trump's so-called "Board of Peace" initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.

Pope Leo, the first U.S. pope and a critic of some of Trump's policies, was invited to join the board in January.

Weeks after Hamdy Ibrahim left his village in Egypt's Nile Delta hoping to reach Europe, his brother's phone rang with a chilling message from Libya: pay now or the boy would die.

A smuggler was on the line, demanding 190,000 pounds ($4,000) to secure the 18-year-old's place on a boat, part of a rising exodus that last year made Egyptians the top African and second-largest global group of irregular migrants to Europe.

"I told him we couldn't afford it," his brother Youssef told AFP from Kafr Abdallah Aziza in Sharqiya, an hour's drive from Cairo.

BERLIN, Feb 17 (Reuters) - More than 80 actors, directors and other artists who have taken part in the Berlin Film Festival, including Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem, signed an open letter to the organisers published on Tuesday calling for them to take a clear stance on Israel's war in Gaza.

"We call on the Berlinale to fulfil its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel's genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians," said the open letter, which was published in full in entertainment industry magazine Variety.

By Matt Spetalnick, Olivia Le Poidevin and Parisa Hafezi

WASHINGTON/GENEVA/DUBAI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Even for a U.S. president long fixated on deal-making, Donald Trump’s assignment of his favorite envoys to juggle two sets of negotiations – the Iranian nuclear standoff and Russia’s war in Ukraine - in a single day in Geneva has left many in the foreign policy world scratching their heads.

More than 80 film industry figures including Oscar-winning actors Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton issued a statement on Tuesday slamming the Berlin Film Festival's "silence" on Gaza.

The signatories to the open letter, sent to AFP, said they were "appalled" by the festival's "institutional silence" and "dismayed" at its "involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza".