Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has written Ismail Haniyya, Prime Minister of the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip, inviting him to visit Turkey, and informing him that he has instructed Turkey’s Ministry of Finance to allocate $300 Million in aid for Hamas.
Hamas sources said that Erdogan was responding positively to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s call for closer relations between Turkey and its fellow Islamist government in Gaza.
The Turkish aid will go a long way towards allowing the genocidal Hamas to continue its War Against the Jews. And yet, our Secretary if Defense Leon Panetta claims that Turkey is interested in ‘regional stability’ and that it’s Israel’s responsibility to mend fences with them!
US law states unequivocally that any person or nation associating with or providing aid to a terrorist group is subject to legal penalties if a US citizen and sanctions if a foreign nation. Both the EU and the US have named Hamas an officially designated terrorist group. Are sanctions on Turkey forthcoming ?
And shouldn’t someone warn President Obama that his man crush with Erdogan is contrary to US law?
(hat tip Challah Hu Akbar)
via J O S H U A P U N D I T: Turkey’s Erdogan To Give Hamas $300M In Aid.
There is no one who does not know about Gilad Shalit, the soldier for whose sake Israel turned Gaza upside down, killed thousands of people, including women and children, and turned Gaza into an open-air prison. In fact, maybe he has been the most innocent hero of this long and bloody game, or the victim, since the day he was kidnapped by Hamas.
After Hamas kidnapped Shalit and the Israeli army entered Gaza, only to fail at rescuing the soldier, Israel asked for mediation and assistance from Turkey.
And, even at that time, which was the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007, Turkey stepped in and talks were carried out with Hamas, with some progress achieved. But Israel has a habit; it does the same job together with a few countries. The fact that other countries were also involved did not make the negotiations any easier; on the contrary, they got tougher. Moreover, they became entangled. At this point, Turkey stepped out.
Turkey stepped out but Israel’s effort to save Gilad Shalit did not end until seven or eight months ago.
Some seven or eight months ago, at a time when Turkish-Israeli relations were not at its best, the Israeli government once more consulted Turkey and asked for help to save Shalit because they had reached a certain point in negotiations and once more the talks were deadlocked. Would Turkey help overcome this deadlock?
The subject was referred to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Erdoğan reacted very clearly to this demand: “This is a humanitarian issue; it has nothing to do with our Israeli politics or relations. Let us do whatever we can.”
With this directive, the Foreign Ministry stepped in. They wanted Israel to pass all the information it had to Ankara. Then it was understood that a Western European country’s representative had played a serious role in the negotiations carried out until that time.
That Western European came to Ankara. He met Davutoğlu and top level Foreign Ministry civil servants, conveyed all the information he had and explained the latest stage reached in the negotiations.
From that moment on, a tough negotiation period started with Hamas on one hand and with Israel on the other. The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) stepped in and met with MOSSAD, Hamas and Egyptian intelligence.
This shuttle diplomacy and secret meetings gradually bore fruit, the deadlocked situation in the negotiations ended and an advance was obtained.
On one side of the negotiation was Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal who resided in Syria, on the other side was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in the middle were Davutoğlu, the Foreign Ministry and MİT.
The subject on which the negotiations were about to be locked was whether 27 Hamas women were to be released. But later this issue was overcome and a few days ago Mashaal called Davutoğlu from Syria and told him the deal was struck. “If you do not have any objection, we will announce it in a few hours. I wanted you to know first,” he said. Davutoğlu said: “This is a totally humanitarian matter. We thank you for being helpful in this issue. The deal is also appropriate from our point of view.”
And after this talk, both Hamas and Israel announced the deal struck on Shalit.
İsmet Berkan is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece appeared Oct. 14. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.
ANKARA/PARIS/BRUSSELS: Turkey welcomed Wednesday a deal between Israel and Hamas in which a Franco-Israeli soldier, held for five years, is to be exchanged for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners.
“We are happy,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, of the deal that will see the Palestinian militant group free Gilad Shalit, who they have held since 2006.
“The agreement that had been concluded is a good agreement,” he said.
“It is a positive development that will lower pressure” in the Middle East, he added.
Turkey was ready to contribute to “any peaceful effort” that would allow people kept from their loved ones to find their families – whether it be Shalit or the Palestinian prisoners, he said.
Turkey had in the past had direct and indirect contact with Israel and Hamas in a bid to free Shalit, said Davutoglu.
Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’ exiled political chief, had phoned him to brief him on the details of the deal, he said.
France also hailed the deal, with President Nicolas Sarkozy calling the agreement a “major success” for Israel.
Sarkozy’s office said the president was “delighted” at the news of the deal and “thanked all those who contributed to this agreement, notably Egypt for the essential role it played.”
The French head of state had spoken by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulated him for this “major success,” said the statement, released late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also welcomed the deal between Israel and Hamas. “I warmly welcome the news that Gilad Shalit will soon be able to return home after five years of captivity, putting an end to the long ordeal that he and his family have endured,” she said.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on October 13, 2011, on page 8.
via THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Middle East :: Turkey, France and EU welcome Israel-Hamas deal to trade prisoners.
Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul says he agrees with U.S. President Barack Obama that the Palestinian Authority must resolve the issue of how Israel can be expected to negotiate with a terrorist entity that is committed to its destruction and refuses to acknowledge its right to exist.
Hamas must recognize the State of Israel, Gul told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. And, he added, he has already done what he can to drive the point home: %u201CI already advised them,%u201D he said, to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.
Gul had apparently already had a similar conversation with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal in 2006, telling him %u201Cyou have to be rational%u201D about recognizing the Jewish State.
The Turkish president added that he believes Hamas is ready to recognize Israel %u2013 along the 1949 Armistice lines %u2013 but thinks that should occur along with Israeli recognition of a new PA country.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the other hand, has maintained that Hamas is not a terrorist entity at all. Erdogan told the Al Qassam website in January that Hamas is “a political party and an organization.”
Hamas is not a terror organization, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with U.S. television late Wednesday, saying he felt the recently penned Palestinian reconciliation agreement was an essential step toward Mideast peace.
Erdogan’s comments came one day after Hamas Gaza strongman Mahmoud Zahar said that while his organization would accept a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, it would never recognize Israel, as a result of the damage such a move would do to Palestinian refugees in the “diaspora.”
Erdogan Turkey – 8.02.2011 – AP Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at parliament in Ankara, Turkey, February 8, 2011 Photo by: AP
Senior Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have voiced opposition to Fatah’s new unity deal with Hamas, saying that a Palestinian government that included a terrorist group calling for Israel’s destruction could not be a partner for peace.
Speaking to Charlie Rose on Wednesday, however, the Turkish PM chimed in on the recently achieved unity agreement between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, indicating that he did not feel Hamas was an obstacle in achieving Mideast peace.
“Let me give you a very clear message, I don’t see Hamas as a terror organization. Hamas is a political party — it emerged as a political party that appeared as a political party,” Erdogan told Charlie Rose, adding: “it is a resistance movement trying to protect its country under occupation.”
Going further, the Turkish PM said the world should not “mix terrorist organizations with such an organization, and they entered into the elections,” adding that Hamas “won the elections, they had ministers, and they had parliament speakers who were imprisoned by Israel, about 35 ministers and members of parliament in Israel prisons.”
“Where is terrorism? They entered into the elections and after the elections this is how they were reacted, I mean, calling them terrorists, this would be disrespect to the will of the Palestinian people,” Erdogan added.
Referring to the impact the unity agreement Hamas signed with Fatah, Erdogan said: “I am very pleased with what had happened. I am very pleased. Let me express it very clearly, because this is what we wanted to see for many years.”
The Turkish PM added that “if peace will come to Palestine, if peace will come to Middle East, this will start from the internal peace in Palestine, and then and this target ahead will be discussed much more — much effectively. I discussed it with Tony Blair when he was chairing this Quartet.”
Erdogan also referred to ongoing diplomatic tensions with Israel, a once stable relationship that has been descending in a downward spiral ever since Israel’s Gaza war against Hamas and the raid by Israeli forces on a Turkish Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
“This is absolutely certain. I mean, to this, embargo, three things: apology, compensation, and lifting of embargo on Gaza. It has to be lifted,” Erdogan said.
“We in the Middle East, we are a country that’s accepted the statehood of Israel and Palestine,” the Turkish PM said that his recommend “this to everybody, we defend this.”
“And we bring together the sides. We believe that we can. But, of course, we need everybody should know their limits, their borders, and then we can take these steps,” Erdogan said.
via Turkey’s Erdogan: Hamas is a political party, not a terrorist group – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.
RAMALLAH: A senior Fatah official on Tuesday said that his movement rejected a Turkish offer to hold partial elections in a bid to end the internal Palestinian split.
Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah Central Committee and the chief of its delegation to the reconciliation talks with Hamas, said in a press statement that Turkey offered to hold a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Istanbul to discuss a reconciliation agreement between their movements.
Al-Ahmed added that Turkey “proposed holding elections of the Palestine National Council and postponing the parliamentary and presidential elections.”
The Fatah official said his movement rejected the offer “since the elections have to be comprehensive.”
The Fatah official said the meeting with Meshaal will be considered a move which nullifies the Egyptian document of understanding between Hamas and Fatah formed during former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
Hamas suggested postponing the presidential elections to a later date. Palestinian sources said that Abbas rejected Hamas’ proposal explaining he believes postponing presidential elections will cause those opposing a national reconciliation dialogue to declare him an illegal president, thereby compromising his ability to represent the Palestinian Authority in reconciliation talks.
He added that “Abbas willing to visit Gaza Strip to end the internal split.” Al-Ahmed said that Abbas welcomed the offer of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to accompany him during the visit to Gaza Strip.
In mid March, Abbas announced that he is ready to go to Gaza Strip to end the internal split and to form an independent government. Abbas said he would not restart national reconciliation dialogue with Hamas, because the controversial issues had been discussed several times in the past.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, routed pro-Abbas forces, ousted his Fatah movement and took over Gaza Strip. Abbas consolidated his rule in the West Bank, widening political rift with Gaza besides the geographical split.
Since then, representatives of the two parties held several meetings in Arab countries to solve the crisis, but failed to reach agreement over the main sticking point: security.
In late September, the two movements reached a paper of “understandings” in a meeting held in Damascus related to the restructure of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and general elections.
Palestinian and Arab initiatives, mainly Egypt, failed to bring the two rivals to a reconciliation deal that ends their split and lead to holding general elections in the Palestinian territories.
via Fatah rejects Turkish mediation offer – Arab News.
Hamas sources said that Erdogan was responding positively to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s call for closer relations between Turkey and its fellow Islamist government in Gaza.
