REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ANKARA -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey will continue to support Palestinian people for an independent state.
"Turkey's greatest desire is to see an independent Palestinian state with pre-1967 boundaries and its capital at Jerusalem. Turkey will continue to support Palestinians for this goal," said Erdogan at a joint press conference with visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the Turkish capital of Ankara after their official talks.
Citing recent moves in some parliaments and governments in Europe for recognition of the Palestinian state, the Turkish president said "Israel should interpret international community's message correctly."
He also stressed the importance of unity among Palestinian fractions, adding that Turkey was ready to make all efforts to contribute reconciliation of Hamas and Al-Fatah.
For his part, Abbas welcomed Turkey's efforts for good of Palestinians made both bilaterally and in international arena.
Abbas said that the Palestinians are determined to establish an independent state with pre-1967 boundaries and its capital at Jerusalem, adding that the Turkish government is considering a new package of assistance for Palestinians.
The Palestinian leader also warned that Israeli assault on al-Aqsa mosque could lead to "war of religions."
Erdogan on Monday blasted Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu for "daring" to attend an anti-terror solidarity march in Paris, accusing him of leading "state terrorism" against the Palestinians.
The comments, at a press conference in Ankara with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, were the latest verbal assault against Netanyahu by Erdogan under whose rule Turkey's relations with Israel have steadily deteriorated.
He said he could "hardly understand how he (Netanyahu) dared to go" to Sunday's massive march in the French capital and urged him to "give an account for the children, women you massacred."
Abbas and Netanyahu, as well as Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, joined the solidarity march in Paris in the memory of 17 people killed in Islamist terror attacks last week.
The Paris rally, which drew 1.5 million people, put Netanyahu and Abbas in the closest proximity for some time, with the Middle East peace talks deadlocked.
But Erdogan said Netanyahu had no right to be there after nearly 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel's onslaught on Hamas-controlled Gaza earlier this year.
In 2009, Erdogan walked off the stage at the World Economic Forum after an angry exchange with the the then Israeli president, Shimon Peres.
"Turkey will continue to fight... against Israel's reckless actions that do not recognise law," the Turkish president said.
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