Turkey will continue to support the Palestinians’ “just cause” and push the international community to increase pressure on Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told visiting Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
Erdoğan and Abbas met at Ankara’s Presidential Complex ahead of a speech by the P.A. leader to an extraordinary session of parliament. Abbas’s visit to Turkey followed a trip to Russia earlier this week.
The two men discussed “the massacres committed by Israel in Palestinian territories” and “the steps that need to be taken for a permanent ceasefire,” Erdoğan’s office said in a statement.
The Turkish leader underscored “the need for all countries, especially those in the Islamic world, to intensify their efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians,” according to the readout of the talks.
“The silence of some Western countries and their continued support for Israel is unacceptable,” Erdoğan said.
Abbas thanked Erdoğan for Turkey’s “support of the Palestinian people and the just Palestinian question in international forums,” noting Ankara’s recent decision to join South Africa’s lawsuit against the Jewish state at the International Court of Justice, the P.A.’s Wafa news agency said.
The P.A. chief repeated Ramallah’s call for an “immediate ceasefire to stop the bloodshed of defenseless innocents, full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, a cessation of all Israeli assaults in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and encroachments upon the holy sites in Jerusalem.”
Abbas agreed to address the Grand National Assembly of Turkey after Erdoğan launched a scathing attack on him last month, accusing the Palestinian of refusing to speak before the parliament in Ankara.
“Mahmoud Abbas, who didn’t show up despite our invitation to address the parliament, owes us an apology. Let’s see if he’ll agree to come now,” Erdoğan told attendees at a charitable event in July.
Erdoğan’s remarks expose the growing rift between Ramallah and Ankara following Turkey’s unified stance with the Hamas terrorist organization, the Palestinian Authority’s political rival.
The Turkish president has become ever more hostile towards Israel and closer to Hamas since the terrorist organization’s Oct. 7 cross-border massacre.
In May, Erdoğan described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “vampire who feeds on blood,” while urging Muslims to act against the “threat” posed by the Jewish state.
“The world is watching the barbarity of … a psychopath, a vampire who feeds on blood called Netanyahu, and they are watching it on live broadcast,” he said.
Last month, Erdoğan told Newsweek that Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip are “simply defending their homes, streets and homeland.
“What is between Israel and Gaza is not war,” he continued. “Israel has been treating Gaza as an open-air prison for years. They are usurping Palestinians of their homes, businesses and farmlands throughout Palestinian territory using thieving terrorists they call settlers.”
During a televised address in late July, the Turkish president issued a thinly veiled threat to invade Israel.
“Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similarly to [Israel],” he said. “There is no reason why we cannot do this.”