Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered to mediate in the Hamas-Israel
conflict and the country continues to step up its diplomatic efforts, reported Anadolu
Agency.
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.
The 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 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.”
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.
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.”
He said
that Turkey is willing to do its part to stop the conflict between Israel and
Palestine and reduce the tensions that escalated on Saturday. He called the
Palestine issue the root cause of the problems in the region. He added, “Our
region will remain craving peace unless a just settlement is reached.”
The Israel
Defence Force (IDF) spokesperson Lieutenant Col Jonathan Conricus said 1,200
Israelis were killed and more than 2,700 wounded and emphasised that the
Israeli soldiers are ready to execute mission in Gaza.
ANI
