Author: Petr Lyukimson, Israel, exclusive to VK
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he intended to soon pay an official visit to Gaza. Erdogan made a statement about this at a briefing held at the end of his visit to Germany. According to the Turkish leader, the talks with the ruling Hamas in Gaza about his visit are being held for a long time and are in the final stages. Erdogan also paid tribute to the Emir of Qatar, who made a visit to the Gaza Strip two weeks ago.
Turkish prime minister told reporters that once he offered the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to go to Gaza together, but he refused. (Abbas and his organization Fatah remain in hostile relations with Hamas - PL).
According to Erdogan, during his visit to Germany he suggested that German Chancellor Angela Merkel mediate in the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel, but he stressed that the three requirements of Turkey (apologies for the incident with the "Mavi Marmara", compensation for victims and removal of the blockade on Gaza) remained unchanged. Moreover, Erdogan said, "removal of the blockade on Gaza is our first requirement." Turkish Prime Minister acknowledged that in the past, Israel had made several attempts to normalize relations with Turkey, but, he continued, "all the diplomats sent by Jerusalem were quite strange".
It remains to note that there will not be any problems with Erdogan’s visit to Gaza - the way to the Gaza Strip through the Egyptian border has been opened for a long time, and the Emir of Qatar who has visited Gaza on a short visit has used this recently.
Israel has expressed the hope that during the visit of the Turkish Prime Minister he will see firsthand that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Moreover - despite the attacks, Israel continued to daily supply gasoline and more than 400 trucks with humanitarian aid to Gaza. Meanwhile, together with Egypt, Israel will continue to try to block supplies of weapons and ammunition to Gaza.
