Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, Israel, and others. However, it is important to note that opinions on this matter can vary, and different countries and entities may have different perspectives on the classification of Hamas.
Some people such as Turkish president Erdogan have the opposite opinion. Turkish president Erdogan said that Hamas is not a terrorist organization.
Some people agree that Hamas is not just a terrorist organization, but far worse and too big to be labeled as terrorists. They believe that they are a political party that also has its own military and enforcement.
The foot soldiers are trained radicals who blindly follow their billionaire leaders.
We are all following the heartbreaking events that are taking place in Israel and Gaza where thousands of innocent people are killed, and hundreds have been taken hostage by Hamas. I condemn all loss of life and hostage-taking regardless of nationality, race or religion.
Throughout history, as victims of mass murders and Genocide, Armenians understand well the tragic effects of large-scale killings. Before, during and after the 2020 Artsakh war, the most gruesome crimes were committed against thousands of Armenian soldiers and civilians by Azeris.
At the end of the war, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement that called for the exchange of all Prisoners of War. Armenia kept its end of the bargain by freeing all Azeri prisoners immediately, while Azerbaijan is still holding dozens of Armenians in captivity three years later. No one knows their exact number. These detainees have been wrongly tried and sentenced to long prison terms not only in violation of the 2020 agreement, but also the Geneva Convention. Armenian prisoners have been tortured while in Azeri custody and an unknown number have been killed.
To make matters worse, after occupying Artsakh last month, Azerbaijan captured eight high-ranking Artsakh government officials, including three former presidents, the former State, Defense, and Foreign ministers, deputy army commander, and Chairman of the Artsakh Parliament. They are all held as hostages with no hope that they will be released anytime soon.
Turning to the tragic predicament of the over 200 hostages captured by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, I support all efforts to have these hostages released as soon as possible. Several hundred Hollywood celebrities, including Madonna, Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jerry Seinfeld, and Tyler Perry, signed a joint letter to Pres. Joe Biden urging him to “not rest until all hostages are released.”
Last week, an article appeared in various entertainment magazines and websites that publicized the letter signed by the celebrities to Biden. The press release about the letter was distributed to the media by Melissa Zukerman, the Managing Partner at Principal Communications Group, a PR agency in in Los Angeles. Despite the good intentions of the initiators of the campaign, a regrettable mistake detracted from the commendable effort.
The letter included a paragraph that said: “We urge everyone to not rest until all hostages are released. No hostage can be left behind. Whether American, Argentinian, Australian, Azerbaijani, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Eritrean, Filipino, French, German, Indian, Israeli, Italian, Kazakh, Mexican, Panamanian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, South African, Spanish, Sri Lankan, Thai, Ukrainian, Uzbekistani or otherwise, we need to bring them home.”
I commend the celebrities, Ms. Zukerman and everyone else who had a hand in preparing the letter to Pres. Biden. However, I was surprised to see in the list of captured nationalities a reference to ‘Azerbaijani’ hostages. As I had not heard that any Azerbaijani was kidnapped by Hamas from Israel, I wondered if that information was accurate. So, I sent Ms. Zukerman an email asking about the veracity of the reference to an Azerbaijani hostage. She did not reply to my email. She also ignored my follow-up email as well as a phone message I left for her.
Having done further research, I discovered that there were no reports about an Azerbaijani hostage, except for eight Azerbaijanis, of which two were dual Azerbaijani-Israeli citizens, who were regrettably killed by Hamas during the attack.
I then contacted the agent of one of the celebrities who had signed the letter and asked her if she knew anything about an Azerbaijani who was taken hostage by Hamas. The celebrity’s agent told me that in the version of the letter that her client had signed there was no mention of Azerbaijan or any other nationality. When I sent her the copy of the letter publicized in the media, she was shocked to learn that Ms. Zukerman’s office had asked the celebrities to sign a version of the letter that did not include the names of the 33 nationalities, Ms. Zukerman’s office must have then sent the altered version of the letter to Pres. Biden without informing the celebrities that what they had signed is not what was sent to the White House. Appallingly, these celebrities were not informed of the change in the letter either before or after signing it. This is highly unprofessional and unethical.
So, this is how Azerbaijan was included wrongly in a letter to Pres. Biden, making one its citizens a victim of hostage-taking, while in reality, Azerbaijan is the one that is guilty of taking Armenian hostages. Regrettably, Ms. Zukerman ignored all of my attempts to find out from her how such a mistake could have happened, and why no effort was made to correct it or at least provide a proper explanation? As far as I know, there are no Azerbaijani hostages in Gaze or anywhere else in the world. If I am wrong, Ms. Zukerman had plenty of chances to correct my information but refused to do so.
Lastly, the letter stated, “No hostage can be left behind” (www.NoHostageLeftBehind.com), which implies that all hostages in the world, no matter who had captured them and wherever they are, should be released. Such an all-inclusive plea should have also referred to the dozens of Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijan.
Only when we care about all hostages without any distinction, we can claim that we are true humanitarians.
The most important development in the last Palestine & Israel war was the results of opinion polls regarding the elections to be held in Gaza and the West Bank. It was clearly understood that the Fetih Movement would lose both the Presidency and its majority in the Assembly in these elections. This situation alarmed both Palestinian President Abbas and Netanyahu.
The first step came from Abbas and postponed the elections to an uncertain date. Then Netanyahu stepped up his plan to evict Palestinians around Jerusalem from their homes. He took action to evacuate the homes of about 500 Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Radical Jewish Groups also started demonstrations and riots in this neighborhood. However, they encountered resistance from the Palestinians that they never expected. Netanyahu increased his pressure without understanding the religious importance of the month of Ramadan for Muslims. Netanyahu announced on Sunday (May 9th) that the Israeli army will hold a major military exercise in the Lebanese border, the West Bank and Gaza. This was actually the first announcement of the war. The attack of Israeli security forces on the Aksa Mosque ignited the fuse of the bomb. Hamas responded with the same harshness to Netanyahu’s attempt. It announced that if the Israeli Army does not withdraw from the Holy Land, they will respond strongly. Indeed, Hamas fired more than 1000 rockets at Israeli targets overnight.
The range of Hamas Rockets varied between 70 and 100 km. Such an attack came as a surprise to Israel. The rockets that reached TelAviv have killed 5 Israelis and injured dozens so far. A great panic started within the Israeli Police. On the evening of May 11, Palestinians demonstrated in all Israeli cities. Especially in the city of Lid, the Israeli Police lost control and a state of emergency was declared.
Netanyahu claimed that Hamas would pay a huge price. Warplanes hit hundreds of targets in Gaza on May 11-12. Around 50 Palestinians have died so far. 13 of them are children and 4 of them are women.
Although Netanyahu spoke harshly, he contacted Cairo and the United Arab Emirates and offered to mediate with Hamas. Hamas, on the other hand, refused mediation offers and declared that they “do not trust the Israeli government and are ready for a great war”. The Kassam Brigades, which are the Special Military Units of Hamas, said that: “Some of their commanders were martyred in Israeli attacks and they will hit an important target every day”.
It is the first time that Israel has faced such strong Palestinian resistance. Many Zionist writers within Israel and in the US admit that “Israel fell short for the first time”.
Although Netanyahu succeeds in staying in the Government by going to early elections last years, this time he will not be able to do so. This war seems to be Netanyahu’s Final War. The Israeli people are tired of the war, with the exception of some radical groups. Especially 17-year-old youth recruited into the army complain of long military service periods. The New Generation aspires to live in peace with the Palestinian people with whom they live on the street.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu leave after a joint news conference at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, April 7, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Murad Sezer )
By: Mensur Akgun Translated from Haberturk (Turkey).
US Secretary of State John Kerry, during his weekend visit to Istanbul, asked his counterparts to persuade Hamas to opt for peace, according to an April 8 headline in the daily Milliyet.
ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Summary :
Turkey can play a critical role on Israeli-Palestinian issues through its good relations with Hamas, but Mensur Akgun wonders whether it should do so.
Publisher: Haberturk (Turkey)
Original Title:
To Be Made a Mediator is Not a Favor
Author: Mensur Akgun
First Published: April 9, 2013
Posted on: April 15 2013
Translated by: Timur Goksel
Categories : Turkey Israel Palestinian Authority
If this really was the focus of the visit (that is, if Milliyet’s editors did not run this item on the front page just because it would appear exciting), then the report written by Asli Aydintasbas is important. It could mean that the US will be placing a greater priority on the Palestinian issue than on Syria. This could mean that Washington will move to resolve the Palestine issue in the shadow of the Syrian crisis and put its weight on diplomacy involving Palestine instead of intervening in Syria.
It is not easy to predict what implications this would have for the region and Turkey. Obviously, the US wants Turkey’s support in solving the Palestine issue by using its influence in the region, especially with Hamas.
If Turkey wants to, it can really use its influence. Since the 2009 Davos affair there has been a tremendous sympathy for Turkey in Gaza. The Mavi Marmara flotilla incident and the way Turkey handled reconciliation with Israel has only added to this sympathy.
When necessary, Turkey can convert this sympathy shown in Gaza to political clout and use it toward unification of the two Palestines. The recent victory of Khaled Meshaal over Ismail Haniyeh for the Hamas leadership further strengthened hopes for reconciliation and unification. Also, the US decision to work toward resolving the Palestinian issue after 10 years of no meaningful action will empower Turkey and other regional actors who seek a solution. This also will provide them with further tools of persuasion.
It is now understood that long-dormant Arab peace efforts will be reactivated by the second Obama administration and by the winds of the change in the Arab world.
The US seems to be sincere in wanting to solve the problem and to prevent further destabilization of the region. But is Netanyahu prepared to put an end to the expansion of Jewish settlements and halt new ones? Or will he act as he did Nov. 14 by putting Hamas leaders amenable to a solution on Israel’s target list and shoot them to pieces with its unmanned aerial vehicles?
Will Israel do to Khaled Meshaal what it did to Ahmed Jabari by killing him with missiles in his car? If you ask me, there is no reason for Turkey to become a mediator without getting answers to these questions.
The US has to prove to the region and to the world that it can persuade Israel, that it will not surrender to Israel and that it will not stand idly by when [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu comes to Washington and makes statements embarrassing [President Barack] Obama.
Of course Turkey and Israel should reconcile and normalize their relations. Ambassadors should be appointed, trade ties should increase and there should be more community contacts. A two-state solution should be backed; Hamas and Fatah should be assisted in reconciling with help from Qatar and Egypt.
But, without getting meaningful US guarantees and making sure that such guarantees are robust, Turkey should not agree to be a mediator, to be a facilitator to bring the two sides together for peace, to be a front-runner, and use up its credibility in the Arab world when it is not convinced of Israel’s sincerity.
As much as we need that credibility, so does the region and Israel. That is why we have to be careful in using up that credit. Turkey should not disappoint Hamas and, more important, the Arab world.
Turkey doesn’t need the label of a mediator or a facilitator as some tend to think. What is important for Turkey is the stability of the region and its own political standing. It was not easy to achieve this standing. It should not be squandered.
Moreover, we can’t tolerate another period of tension like December 2008 when relations with Israel hit rock bottom. We cannot bear another crisis.
The cost of Israeli opportunism will be too high for everyone at a time when the Arab world is experiencing strong tremors. None of us would like to pay that cost, including the US.
via Kerry’s Request of Turkey May Boost Role as Mediator – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.
Does the United States or Israel really need Turkey’s help with Syria or Hamas, which controls Gaza, or are we simply offering Ankara a path back to relevance and responsibility?
Turkey has nearly come to blows with all sides in Syria’s civil war, and has forcefully retaliated against cross-border incursions. On Gaza, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has willingly escalated tensions with Israel, almost to the point of outright hostilities. The new Turkey-Israel rapprochement initiated last month by President Obama has yet to bear fruit.
When Gaza and Israel had a hot war last year, raining missiles across half of Israel, it was Egypt’s new Iran-leaning government that brokered the ceasefire, not the once moderate Turkey. Earlier, even amid its volatile post-Mubarak transition, it was Egypt that negotiated the prisoner exchange to release Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity. Egypt, and not Turkey.
If we’re seeking a more stable alternative to Egyptian mediation, Turkey may not be the best candidate (see under: Jordan). Erdogan’s own verbal and physical actions, which include insulting and literally walking out on Israeli President Peres at Davos a few years ago, give the impression of an intemperate and inflexible ideologue. His government’s show trials of top generals and literally hundreds of senior officers have removed a key stabilizing force, a military that used to reassure Israel and the West regardless of mood swings in Turkish politics.
In an effort to avoid the risks of directly criticizing Erdogan, Turkish commentators and politicians are increasingly channeling their distaste to the Mideast policies of his Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. They’re upset that Turkey has lost credibility in the region, despite being so openly supportive of the ascendant radical Islamist movements — and possibly because it is alienating Western allies. If Turkey weren’t locking up so many of its journalists, along with the generals, we might hear more about that.
When President Obama officiated last month at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s long-distance apology to Erdogan for the 2010 “flotilla” deaths, the world had the impression that Turkish-Israeli goodwill was revived. But within minutes of hanging up the phone, Erdogan let it be known that he’d forced Israel to apologize, and that he would now be waiting for compensation and the lifting of Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza before any return of ambassadors.
All this raises the question: Do we need Turkey more than Turkey needs us? And, if we do need Turkey, when exactly might Ankara start responding to our repeated entreaties?
Since being cold-shouldered by the European Union a few years ago, Erdogan has notably upped his Islamic politics and he seems to lack his former equanimity. What we — the West, the Gulf, Israel — really need is less, not more, confrontation and brinkmanship. What Turkey needs, for its economy and security, is to be seen as part of the solution. Any solution.
Mr. Erdogan has been worrying about payback on a largely forgotten matter — the “flotilla”, which a United Nations panel has blamed on both sides. He might serve his constituents best by focusing instead on the sort of reciprocity it will take to regain Turkey’s stature as a regional referee and sober counterpoint to Iran, and as an indispensable bridge between East and West. His 15 minutes are almost up.
via Shai Franklin: What Part of “Yes” Doesn’t Turkey Understand?.
Turkish PM prepares to meet with terrorist group in Gaza Strip
BY: Adam Kredo
April 4, 2013 8:59 am
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh / AP
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing to meet the Hamas government in Gaza, a move that could further inflame regional tensions.
Preparations for the visit come as Secretary of State John Kerry returns to the Middle East this weekend to patch up relations between Turkey and Israel. Kerry will spend Saturday visiting Israel, the West Bank, and Turkey as he seeks to find common ground between skeptical Middle East leaders, according to reports.
Erdogan’s trip will follow a tenuous diplomatic breakthrough between the Islamist Turkish prime minister and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently apologized to Erdogan for a deadly 2010 incident between the two nations that claimed the lives of eight Turks.
It remains unclear just how much headway Kerry will be able to make given Erdogan’s hesitance to embrace Israel fully and back away from his support for Iran and Hamas, according regional experts.
Erdogan has long acted as one of Hamas’s top cheerleaders, leading the charge to legitimize the terrorist group. The relationship blossomed long before the deadly 2010 flotilla raid harmed relations between Turkey and Israel.
“This certainly didn’t start with the flotilla,” said David Pollock, a former Middle East adviser at the State Department. “It goes back not only longer, but deeper because support for Hamas is not just against Israel but is in line with Erdogan’s overall Muslim Brotherhood orientation, his Islamic orientation.”
“The question that I would ask is not only why does Erdogan support Hamas against Israel but also support Hamas against the Palestinian Authority and [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas,” said Pollock, who currently serves as a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The PA has opposed Erdogan’s planned trip to Israel, claiming it will only “deepen divisions among the Palestinians,” according to regional media reports.
Erdogan announced he would visit Gaza and Hamas after Netanyahu offered his apology, leading State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell to express “deep concern” during a press briefing on March 27.
Erdogan, recently dubbed by President Barack Obama as one of his top five international friends, is attempting to consolidate power by appealing to all sides, experts said.
“He tries to play both sides,” Pollock said. “He patched things up supposedly with Netanyahu on Obama’s recent visit [to Israel], but he continues to show support for Hamas. It’s possible in his mind he actually believes Hamas can be brought around to accept peace with Israel, but if he does, it isn’t true. There’s a real contradiction here.”
Erdogan has said he is Hamas’ champion, even claiming in the past that he wants to “represent Hamas on international platforms.”
The Turkish prime minister remains committed to engaging Hamas at every opportunity despite its ongoing terrorist activities.
“We should not be squeezing them into the corner,” he said in a 2009 speech before the European Union.
Erdogan has even vowed to personally escort any flotilla that seeks to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip—a promise that was made well after the deadly 2010 incident.
Hamas leaders also view Erdogan as a top ally.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh named his grandson after Erdogan so that the Turkish leader’s name “reverberated on every tongue” in the Gaza Strip, according to a 2010 report in Today’s Zaman.
Erdogan and Hamas have rallied around their opposition to Israel.
Erdogan has dubbed Israeli military operations against Hamas fighters “state terror.”
When Israel launched its 2008 military incursion into Gaza to combat ongoing terrorist rocket attacks, Erdogan described it as “an act of disrespect toward Turkey.”
“The crucial break point for Erdogan in this area was not the flotilla, but the Gaza war in December of ’08,” said Pollock. “That was the turning point. He took it very personally.”
Hamas attacks on Israel are justified in Erdogan’s view.
“I do not think that Hamas is a terrorist organization,” he said in April 2010, according to the Hurriyet Daily News. “I said the same thing to the United States. I am still of the same opinion. They are Palestinians in resistance, fighting for their own land.”
Erdogan’s recent bid to soften tensions with Israel are aimed at boosting his own image, according to Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
“Turkish officials are of the belief that, ‘We are going act as a mediator that is going to lead the [peace] process,’” Badran said. “That’s how they’re putting it out. He’s trying to raise the profile of Turkey as a mediator once again, specifically using the Palestinians as a platform”
The United States has been left with few diplomatic options given the regional climate.
“Realistically, we have to deal with this guy,” said Pollock. “He’s in charge of a very, very important country for the region and for us. I think he has his mishegas [craziness], but he’s demonstrated that he can be quite pragmatic toward us and even toward Israel. We have to make the best of not a great situation.”
This entry was posted in Middle East and tagged Hamas, Israel, John Kerry, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey. Bookmark the permalink.
via Turkish PM prepares to meet with Hamas | Washington Free Beacon.
