Abbas in Turkey:
Discuss Middle East conflict
TURKEY: Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas is in Turkey for a
two-day visit to discuss troubled efforts to end the Middle East
conflict, Anatolia news agency reported. He was scheduled to meet behind
closed doors with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later Sunday,
before talks Monday with President Abdullah Gul, officials said earlier.
The leaders will “discuss and consult on ... bilateral ties, the
latest situation in Palestine and regional developments, primarily the
Middle East peace process,” a statement from Gul’s press office said.
Direct talks between the Palestinians and Israel began on September 2
but stalled three weeks later with the expiry of an Israeli moratorium
on settlement construction in occupied land, which the Jewish state has
stubbornly refused to reimpose. Abbas has repeatedly threatened to quit
the talks if Israel does not begin a new freeze, particularly in annexed
east Jerusalem which the Palestinians want as the capital of their
future state.
Turkey has traditionally had close ties with the Palestinians and
supports their claim to statehood. It has also pressed for healing the
rift between Abbas’ Fatah faction and the Islamist movement Hamas, which
controls the Gaza Strip, while urging that Hamas not be excluded from
peace efforts.
Ankara,Monday, AFP
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