Ankara, Oct 12: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered to mediate in the Hamas-Israel conflict. He said that Turkey continues to step up its diplomatic efforts, Turkey-based Anadolu Agency reported. Erdogan said, “I would like to state that Turkey is ready for any kind of mediation, including prisoner exchanges, if the parties request it.”
“We continue to step up our diplomatic contacts, which we have been maintaining for a while and have intensified even more in the last three days,” Erdogan said.
He made the remarks after chairing a cabinet meeting in Ankara. Erdogan’s remarks come after the terrorist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, prompting Israel to declare a state of war.
Turkish President emphasised that the war is subject to a moral and ethical code, adding that the “sides are obliged to comply with. As we always say, ‘There are no losers in a just peace’,” Anadolu Agency reported. Erdogan urged Israel to stop its bombing of Palestinian regions and called on Palestinians to stop their harassment of civilian settlements in Israel.
He called for acting with a human conscience and added, “This moderate step will also open the door to peace.”
Erdogan said, “The destruction of Gaza by air and ground attacks, the bombing of mosques, and the deaths of innocent children, women, elderly, and civilians are never acceptable.”
He stated that Turkey is making necessary preparations to provide humanitarian aid materials that the Gaza Strip will require amid Israel’s counter-offensive against Hamas.
He said that Turkey’s stance regarding the issue has been clear from the very beginning and stated that Turkey recognised Israel in 1949. He noted that the two nations continue to have diplomatic ties, according to Anadolu Agency report.
He further said, “We believe that there will be no peace in the region without the establishment of an independent sovereign state of Palestine with geographical integrity, within the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital,” Anadolu Agency reported.
Erdogan stressed that problems in the region cannot be resolved by “constantly harassing the Palestinian people, disregarding the safety of their life and property, seizing their homes and lands, destroying their infrastructure, and preventing their development.”
He said, “We have always said and continue to say that we disapprove of letting a single innocent person get harmed, whether in Israel or Palestine’s lands. Our position has not changed.”
Earlier on Monday, Erdogan held separate phone calls with Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the latest situation in the region.
On Sunday, Erdogan stressed that the realization of an independent, and geographically integrated Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital, could not be delayed any further, according to Anadolu Agency report. In his remarks at the opening ceremony of Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church in Yesilkoy, he said, “Lasting peace in the Middle East is only possible through a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”