Abbas expresses gratitude for Turkey’s support to Palestine

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) Turkish PMRecep Tayyip Erdoğan (R). Hürriyet Daily News photo by Selahattin Sönmez

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his gratitude for Turkey’s support in obtaining an upgraded U.N. status for his country, urging Israel to fulfill its duty toward peace.

“We want to give peace a chance today. We are calling on Israel to fulfill its duty. We are calling on Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank, to release Palestinian prisoners and to return to the negotiations that were suspended in 2008,” Abbas said in his address to Turkish Parliament
late Dec. 10.

Abbas hailed Turkey’s support to Palestine during the U.N. vote, noting how Turkey was the country to which he paid his first official visit after obtaining an upgraded U.N. status for his country.

“I will not forget Dec. 10, 2012, and I’m sure that the Palestinian people will remember this historic day. I’m paying my first official visit to Turkey after statehood was recognized in the U.N. I’m grateful for your economic, diplomatic and political support,” Abbas told Turkish lawmakers.

Abbas also praised Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu for his efforts during the U.N. vote in New York. “Davutoğlu played an active role in New York. He contacted all countries and made maximum efforts for Palestine.”

Abbas stressed that Palestine obtaining non-member statehood in the world body was just a beginning. “We have a long and tough way [to go]. We are proceeding along this way. We are on the way to a Palestine within the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem as its capital.”