Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in a phone call that “the Islamic world should be united against Israel’s attacks in Palestine,” according to a Turkish readout.
The stance represents an apparent shift for Erdogan, who had been leading a policy over the past year that has seen Turkey warm its ties with Israel. During that time though, Turkish officials warned that deteriorations in the Israeli-Palestinian ties would lead to similar trends in Jerusalem-Ankara ties.
“Emphasizing that common sense should prevail to prevent a new spiral of violence, Erdogan said that it would be beneficial to take initiatives to guide all parties to common sense,” the readout says, without elaborating.
Erdogan also called on Raisi to “jointly continue efforts in international platforms, especially in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UN, to preserve the status of holy places,” according to his office.
“Erdogan said it is important to demonstrate unity, particularly in the face of recent acts such as the burning of the holy Quran in European cities,” it adds.
The readout is issued shortly after Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s office published its own readout from a call he held with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, which indicated that Israel was making headway in convincing Ankara of its position.
“As part of the intensive activity of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen with his colleagues in the Middle East and around the world, Minister Cohen spoke by phone today with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in order to calm tensions and send a message to the Hamas terror organization that Israel will respond strongly to the continuation of terrorism and violence,” the readout says.
Hamas is known to have ties with the Turkish government, which has long hosted officials from the terror group on its soil; and Israel often uses that relationship to pass along messages to Hamas.
“In messages to his colleagues in the Middle East and around the world: Israel will respond strongly to any attempt to harm Israeli citizens; Hamas is responsible for the latest round of escalation — on the Temple Mount, in Gaza and in Lebanon — and Hamas will pay the price for recent events; Israel is committed to the status quo on the Temple Mount and to freedom of worship in Jerusalem for all religions.”
Source: timesofisrael