President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was ready to help in any way possible to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, and expressed satisfaction with the ceasefire agreement that has come into effect in Lebanon.
President Tayyip Erdogan © X
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was ready to help in any way possible to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, and expressed satisfaction with the ceasefire agreement that has come into effect in Lebanon.
Turkey, which has fiercely criticised Israel's offensives in Gaza and Lebanon, has previously said it discussed a potential truce in Gaza with Palestinian militant group Hamas and gave the group recommendations on how to proceed with the negotiations.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States would again push for an elusive ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza "with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others".
"We are stating that, as Turkey, we are ready to provide any contribution for the massacre in Gaza to end and for a lasting ceasefire to be achieved," Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party in parliament.
Asked about Biden's remarks, a Turkish official told Reuters a ceasefire in Lebanon without a truce in Gaza was not enough to achieve regional stability, adding Ankara was ready to help reach a deal in Gaza, just as it had supported previous efforts.
"We are again ready to help achieve a permanent ceasefire and a lasting solution in Gaza," the official said.
While Ankara has repeatedly traded insults with Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza war, it has not officially severed ties with it. Unlike Israel and its Western partners, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation and regularly hosts some of its senior members.
Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades on Tuesday and both sides said they held positive discussions although it was not immediately clear if they agreed to a framework for peace.
A teenager opened fire at a high school in Turkey's southeastern province of Sanliurfa on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people including students and teachers before killing himself, the province's governor said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has signaled his country's desire for full normalization with Lebanon, just ahead of a key round of peace talks scheduled in Washington.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.