ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, in his strongest comments yet on the Gaza conflict, said on Wednesday the Palestinian militant group Hamas was not a terrorist organization but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands.
NATO member Turkiye condemned the civilian deaths caused by Hamas’s Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, but also urged Israeli forces to act with restraint in their response. Ankara has strongly criticized Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
“Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a battle to protect its lands and people,” he told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, using an Arabic word denoting those who fight for their faith.
Unlike many of its NATO allies and the European Union, Turkiye does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and hosts members of the group on its territory. Ankara backs a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Erdogan also slammed Western powers for supporting Israel’s bombing of Gaza and called for an immediate cease-fire, the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and for Muslim countries to work together to stop the violence.
“The perpetrators of the massacre and the destruction taking place in Gaza are those providing unlimited support for Israel,” Erdogan said. “Israel’s attacks on Gaza, for both itself and those supporting them, amount to murder and mental illness.”
Israel rejected Erdogan’s description of Hamas, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat calling the group “a despicable terrorist organization.”
“Even the Turkish president’s attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his inciting words will not change the horrors that the whole world has seen,” Haiat wrote on social media platform X.
Erdogan’s comments also drew a swift rebuke from Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who said they were “grave and disgusting and did not help with de-escalation.” He urged Italy’s foreign minister to lodge a formal protest with Ankara.
Shares in Istanbul dropped 7 percent on Wednesday in a slide that traders attributed to Erdogan’s comments on Hamas.
The fighting in Gaza comes at a time when Turkiye is working to mend its ties with Israel after years of acrimony, focusing on energy as an area of cooperation.
Indicating that those normalization efforts were now suspended, Erdogan accused Israel of taking advantage of Turkiye’s “good intentions” and said he had canceled a previously planned visit to Israel.
“I shook the hand of this man named Netanyahu one time in my life,” Erdogan said, referring to his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month.
“If he (Netanyahu) had continued with good intentions, our relations might have been different, but now, unfortunately, that will not happen either because they took advantage of our good intentions,” he added.
Erdogan accused the West of hypocrisy for failing to respond to what he called Israel’s “intentional massacre” in Gaza with the same decisiveness as it did to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkiye’s Erdogan says Hamas is not terrorist organization, cancels trip to Israel
https://arab.news/pt4eq
Turkiye’s Erdogan says Hamas is not terrorist organization, cancels trip to Israel
- Unlike many of its NATO allies and the European Union, Turkiye does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and hosts members of the group on its territory
- Shares in Istanbul dropped 7 percent on Wednesday in a slide that traders attributed to Erdogan’s comments on Hamas
Abbas reiterates opposition to displacement of Palestinians
- During Moscow talks, president calls for immediate halt to Israeli acts of terror
- Historically, Russia has supported and stood by the Palestinian people at political and diplomatic levels
MOSCOW: The Palestinian National Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated his opposition to all attempts to displace Palestinian people from their land.
Speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the presidential palace in Moscow, Abbas was reported by the Kremlin’s official website as saying that “the Palestinian people are holding on to their land, and we categorically oppose attempts by the Americans and Israelis to expatriate Palestinians beyond Palestinian territory.”
He said the Palestinian people “will not abandon their land, whatever the cost.” Abbas stressed the need to fully implement US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, leading to the withdrawal of occupation forces and the launch of the reconstruction process.
He emphasized that the Palestinian Authority would assume a central role in administering the Gaza Strip, and that the enclave and the West Bank constituted two parts of a single territorial unit, with a unified and undifferentiated system of civilian institutions.
He stressed the need for an immediate halt to “Israeli settler colonialism and Israeli acts of terror in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, along with the release of withheld Palestinian funds and the cessation of all measures that undermined the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution.”
He reaffirmed his commitment to continue the struggle for the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and of their right to a fully sovereign, independent state based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, while living in security and peace with neighbors.
He told Putin: “What we need is peace, and we hope that with your help and support, we can achieve it — a peace built on the basis of international legal resolutions, decisions of the United Nations, and the principles established following the wars of 1967 and 1973.
“East Jerusalem remains the capital of Palestine, and we know that Russia has always supported — indeed, was the first to support — Palestine, maintaining a firm stance in support of our people.”
Abbas thanked his Russian counterpart for Moscow’s support and commended the bilateral “bonds of friendship” between both countries. He added: “We are friends of Russia and the Russian people. For over 50 years our nations have been bound by a strong friendship that has developed over the decades and continues on the correct path. Russia is a great friend and a nation upon which we rely in many spheres.
“Historically, Russia has supported and stood by the Palestinian people at political and diplomatic levels. Your economic and financial support is both significant in scale and crucial in importance.”
Abbas emphasized moving forward with the implementation of a comprehensive national reform program aimed at consolidating the rule of law, strengthening the principles of good governance, transparency, and accountability, and ensuring the separation of powers.
Putin affirmed Moscow’s “principled and consistent approach” to the Palestinian question.
He said: “We believe that only the establishment and full functioning of the Palestinian state can lead to a lasting settlement of the Middle East conflict.”
