Erdogan urges Palestinian unity in assembly with Hamas chief in Istanbul | EUROtoday

Turkey continues to attempt to assume a mediating function within the Gaza warfare, coinciding with a rising questioning of Qatar as an middleman within the battle. After sending the Foreign Minister to Doha to take care of Hamas, this Saturday the political chief of the Palestinian group, Ismail Haniyahmet with the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan In Estambul. A delegation of senior Hamas officers traveled with Haniyah, together with the previous chief of the formation, Khaled Mashal.

At the assembly they mentioned “Israel's attacks on Palestinian lands”, in addition to formulation to ship “uninterrupted humanitarian aid” and obtain “a fair and lasting peace process in the region”, in line with the Turkish presidency declared in a press release. Erdogan highlighted the significance of “unity” of all Palestinian factions and events with a view to guarantee stability in a post-conflict state of affairs. “It is vital that the Palestinians act with unity in this process. The strongest response to Israel and the path to victory lies in unity and integrity,” stated the Turkish president.

The assembly passed off amid rising regional tensions following direct assaults between Israel and Iran. In this regard, Erdogan harassed that the current escalation mustn’t permit Israel to “gain ground”, in a potential allusion to the upcoming Israeli floor offensive in Rafah, a metropolis in southern Gaza that at present hosts greater than 1,000,000 displaced Palestinians. The Turkish president urged the worldwide group to maintain “attention on Gaza” and as soon as once more pointed to the creation of an “independent State of Palestine” as an answer to the battle that might guarantee a “permanent peace in the region.”

The Hamas go to comes days after Turkey introduced restrictions on the export of greater than 50 merchandise to Israel, together with metal and jet gasoline, important of their offensive within the Gaza Strip. Despite being very vital of the actions of the Israeli military within the Palestinian enclave, the Turkish Government has taken greater than six months to restrict its business ties with Israel. Ankara introduced the measure after rising public discontent for not exhibiting higher institutional rejection of the warfare.

Turkey doesn’t think about Hamas a terrorist group and has welcomed a part of the group's management for years, after the Palestinian group left Syria in 2012 after condemning the brutal repression of protests by the regime. Bashar Asad. Much of public opinion in Turkey is in favor of the Palestinian trigger, though polls point out that greater than half of the inhabitants doesn’t need the Government to get entangled within the battle.

The Turkish NGO IHH, with an Islamist orientation and promoter of nearly all of pro-Palestinian protests in Turkey, has created, along with a coalition of worldwide organizations, a flotilla to interrupt the maritime blockade of Gaza and ship humanitarian support to the enclave. It is scheduled to set sail within the coming days from Istanbul, with tons of of activists from thirty international locations.