UPDATE - Turkish president urges countries to stop supplying arms to Israel

ADDS MORE REMARKS BY PRESIDENT ERDOGAN

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Thursday on countries that continue to supply arms to Israel to end their “complicity in its crimes” in its months-long deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip.

“Countries providing ammunition and weapons support to Israel's massacres must now refrain from complicity in these crimes,” Erdogan said during a joint news conference in the capital Ankara with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Exhorting the international community, who he said has not done enough to end the Gaza “massacre,” Erdogan also urged all “conscientious and responsible parties to take the wheel” to help reach an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Saying that Türkiye shares the same perspective with Uzbekistan on the Palestine issue, he reiterated his call for an end to the oppression in Gaza.

Erdogan also thanked Mirziyoyev for his support for an independent Palestinian state and a two-state solution.

“We are making every effort to end the war and provide humanitarian aid to our brothers in Gaza in need. Our initiatives regarding all legal processes, including the International Court of Justice, are ongoing,” he added.

​​​​​​Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack on Oct. 7 last year by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire

Some 36,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,000 others injured, according to local health authorities

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.​​​​​​​

Expressing his great pleasure in hosting Mirziyoyev and his delegation in the capital Ankara for the 3rd Meeting of the Türkiye – Uzbekistan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, Erdogan said the meeting was successfully held.

He said they discussed steps to further deepen the partnership between the two countries and determined the direction regarding this.

-$5B trade volume target

Erdogan said he discussed concrete steps with Mirziyoyev that could be taken in areas such as trade, agriculture, transportation, energy, culture, education and the defense industry during the meeting.

He also said they signed many agreements.

Erdogan indicated that these agreements would diversify cooperation between the two nations and strengthen the contractual basis.

"We are pleased with the increasing Turkish investments in Uzbekistan every passing day. We will continue to encourage our businessmen to increase their investments in Uzbekistan and establish ties that will strengthen our partnership,” he added.

Stating that they began taking the necessary steps to implement the 107-article action plan signed at the seventh meeting of the Türkiye-Uzbekistan Joint Economic Commission, Erdogan said the business forum held on Wednesday will contribute to this.

“With these steps, I believe we will achieve our $5 billion trade volume target in the shortest time possible,” he added.

- Two nations’ efforts are ‘very valuable’

President Erdogan drew attention to the increasing regional and global importance of Uzbekistan, located in the heart of Central Asia, with its nearly 36 million young and dynamic people.

"The efforts we are carrying out within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States, which brings together our brothers in Central Asia along with Uzbekistan, our ancestral homeland, are very valuable,” he added.

The Turkish president pointed out that "Uzbekistan’s participation in 2019 further strengthened our Unity of Family under the OTS," which is an important result of Ankara’s efforts over the decades to gather the Turkic states under one roof.

He thanked Mirziyoyev for Uzbekistan's constructive role within the organization.

Erdogan also praised Mirziyoyev for “turning Uzbekistan into a power that is quickly recognized.”