UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER
By Busra Nur Cakmak
ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye “rejects and condemns” attacks targeting “innocent civilians” and causing their death in Palestine, said the country’s foreign minister on Saturday.
“I would like to emphasize once again that we invite Israel to adhere to international law and human values,” Hakan Fidan said in a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Cairo.
Israel, he said, “should have peace not only with Arab countries but mainly with Palestinians.”
Fidan reiterated Türkiye’s two-state solution for the conflict, saying that the Palestinian issue could be resolved with the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“We do not approve of the policy of displacing Palestinians in Gaza and deporting them to Egypt. We oppose this. And we stand with Egypt on this issue,” Fidan said.
He also said that Türkiye will continue to send humanitarian aid to Gaza as the ongoing fighting with Israel rages.
Fidan said that they discussed the aid issue with other countries too.
"We were in search of how countries can address this issue in a more systematic way, in coordination, instead of providing aid separately. Of course, the UN is also in the field."
About the evacuations, the foreign minister said there are almost 300 Turkish citizens with dual nationality in Gaza and 30 of them have so far been evacuated.
Fidan also said that Türkiye is in close consultation with countries with which it has a similar stance on the Palestinian issue to prevent the conflict from spreading. He called for the resumption of the peace process on the basis of a two-state solution.
He stressed that as Muslim countries in the region, it is necessary to establish a mechanism that will protect the survival of the Palestinians and be the guarantor of a just and lasting peace.
For his part, Shoukry said that Egypt and Türkiye share a common vision on the importance of efforts to overcome serious humanitarian impacts of the conflict on Palestinians.
“Shift of the conflict between Palestine and Israel towards military operations arose due to failure to achieve legitimate rights of Palestinians,” he said.
- Türkiye-Egypt relations
Fidan said that the relations between Türkiye and Egypt “have entered a brand new era in which we turn our horizons to the future and focus on cooperation.”
“Reviving the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council is on our agenda. We will continue to strengthen our cooperation in areas such as trade, economy, energy, aviation, tourism, culture, education, communication, and defense industry,” he said.
Fidan said that the bilateral trade volume between Türkiye and Egypt reached almost $10 billion last year, adding the new target for the next five years is $15 billion.
Fidan is on a two-day official visit to Egypt at the invitation of Shoukry.
During his visit, Fidan also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
The visit comes as hostilities between the Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Israel have entered their second week, with the embattled Gaza Strip bordering northeast Egypt facing Israeli airstrikes, a cutoff of basic utilities, and an order for over 1 million residents to evacuate their homes in the north and go to the south.
Türkiye has so far sent three planes with humanitarian relief to an Egyptian airport in the hope of sending them to neighboring Gaza.