By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to journalists on his return from Algeria to reiterate his message that the Muslim world must unite against Israel’s occupation. As Erdogan commented: “Breaking the blockade cannot be achieved through one or two countries, but through the steps and strategies created by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League.” He said that getting enough aid into Gaza was a prerequisite and that Gaza needs to be rebuilt by “economic, political, diplomatic, sociological and cultural” means. Erdogan’s message is that countries must force Israel to be accountable for its actions in Gaza and to tow international law. As he explained: “The Islamic world must act with the spirit of unity to apply the decisions and stand behind the decisiveness it displayed in Riyadh.” He pointed out that at the recent summit, that the final declaration of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) rejected Israel’s claims of “self-defense” and said the U.N. Security Council must adopt a “decisive and binding resolution” to stop Israel’s aggression.The Arab countries have called for an end to weapons sales to Israel and rejected the displacement of Gazans.
The Turkish leader described Israel’s actions as “state and occupational terrorism” and “humanitarian crime, as well as genocide.” He said he still is holding out hope that Palestinians will end up with a two-state solution and that Turkiye will work to transfer medical patients from Gaza to Turkiye and will discuss this with the Egyptian President soon. As he has done a number of times, recently, Erdogan sharply criticized the West’s stance on Gaza: “Except for one country, there is none that is embracing this issues among Western countries. Almost all European countries are silent. They have no intent to intervene to stop the massacre. Here, only the stance of Spain is positive.” Erdogan said he planned to speak with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez next week. Turkiye’s goal is to use its diplomatic efforts to end the war in Gaza and reiterated that Turkiye is ready to take such a responsibility if a regional security mechanism is established for the conflict and proposed a guarantorship model. Turkish officials are also working on bringing crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians to the International Criminal Court (ICC) through government agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In his recent trip to Germany, Erdogan underscored that Germany and Turkiye must cooperate to help bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.
Photo : AA
