Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Gaza must be part of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state once the Israel-Hamas war is over, and Ankara will not support any plans “gradually erasing Palestinians” from history.
“Once all of this that is happening is finished, we want to see Gaza as a peaceful region that is a part of an independent Palestinian state, in line with 1967 borders, with territorial integrity, and with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Erdogan was on Saturday cited as saying by broadcaster Haberturk and others.
President Erdogan also said he was breaking off contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We have written him off,” Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying.
Erdogan’s remarks came a week after Israel said it was “re-evaluating” its relations with Ankara because of Turkiye’s increasingly heated rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war. Israel had earlier withdrawn all diplomats from Turkiye and other regional countries as a security precaution.
Turkey has said that it was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations due to Israel’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, AFP reports.
The Turkish foreign ministry said Sakir Ozkan Torunlar was being recalled “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel’s refusal (to accept) a ceasefire.”
Erdogan said Saturday that Turkiye was not breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel.
“Completely severing ties is not possible, especially in international diplomacy,” Erdogan said.
He said MIT intelligence agency chief Ibrahim Kalin was spearheading Turkiye’s efforts to try and mediate an end to the war.
“Ibrahim Kalin is talking to the Israeli side. Of course, he is also negotiating with Palestine and Hamas,” Erdogan said.
But he said Netanyahu bore the primary responsibility for the violence and had “lost the support of his own citizens”. “What he needs to do is take a step back and stop this,” Erdogan said.
Tayyip Erdogan said he would try to facilitate the parliamentary ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership as much as possible, but added that Stockhom had still not taken sufficient action on Kurdish militants.
Erdogan submitted a bill approving Sweden’s NATO membership bid to parliament for ratification last month, a move welcomed by the alliance and Stockholm. Turkey had initially raised objections due to what it said was Sweden’s harbouring of groups it deems terrorist.
Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Kazakhstan on Friday, Erdogan said Stockholm had taken some steps regarding protests organised by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party and also concerning arms embargoes on Turkey, but not on the activities of the PKK in Sweden.
—Reuters
