Turkish PM: Israel must recognize Palestine
Recep Tayyip Erdogan reveals to the Guardian newspaper that Tehran asked Ankara to help it out of the diplomatic mud with America; compares Netanyahu's rejection of two-state solution as similar to Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel
Turkish Prime Minsiter Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tehran has sought Anakara's help in finding a solution for its diplomatic crisis with the United States, the Guardian newspaper reported.
Erdogan told the paper that Iran requested Turkey's help while George W. Bush was still in office, and the message was relayed to Washington at that time. He added that he is considering whether to broach the matter with President Barak Obama, who has said he hopes to hold talks with Iran at the G20 summit, scheduled to be held in London this April.
Responding to a question on Turkey's future role in any Washington-Tehran talks, Erdogan said: "Iran does want Turkey to play such a role. And if the United States also wants and asks us to play this role, we are ready to do this."
In the interview Erdogan also called on Prime Minister designate Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize the Palestinian people's right to their own state.
He compared Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist to the Likud's rejection of the two-state
solution, adding that any eventual Israeli-Palestinian process would have to include Hamas.
"We are always telling Hamas to act differently, that we are for a two-state solution: Palestine and Israel," the paper quoted him as saying. "They have to accept this, but Israel also has to accept Palestine. Is Israel right now accepting Palestine? They are still not accepting them. But it is being expected of the Palestinian people to accept Israel. Now go and ask Mr. Netanyahu if he is accepting Palestine."
Once again slamming the IDF's recent offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Erdogan went on to call the Islamist terror group the party of "change and reform."
