Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will visit Turkey next week for talks about the Gaza conflict and reconciliation efforts between Palestinian factions, the Turkish foreign minister has said, AFP reports. Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have mediated in weeks of talks to secure a truce by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramazan in a week.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: “There is a serious desire and effort to reach a ceasefire before Ramadan,” in closing remarks to an annual diplomacy forum in the Mediterranean holiday resort of Antalya.
Fidan confirmed that Abbas would visit the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause. Both leaders would discuss “the developments in Palestine, the current course of the war as well as the intra-Palestinian” dialogue, Fidan said.—Agencies
