Abbas seeks Turkey’s help for recognition

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

PM Erdoğan (R) takes his honorary doctorate from Palestinian President Abbas. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Turkey yesterday to seek grounds for the recognition of Palestine as a non-member state within its 1967 borders at the upcoming 67th session of the UN General Assembly.

While visiting Ankara yesterday, Abbas met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The University of Jerusalem presented Erdoğan an honorary doctorate, presented by the Palestinian president.

The Palestinians are currently a U.N. observer “entity” with no voting rights. A simple majority vote in the 193-member assembly would be enough to grant Palestinians non-member observer status, bypassing the Security Council, where the U.S., Israel’s ally, has previously threatened to veto the bid.

The Palestinian leader consulted with Turkey on the content of its request and about when would be the best time to press for a vote, since Washington is pressuring the Palestinian leadership to postpone its upgrade plans until after the US elections in November.

Abbas will leave Turkey and head to New York on Sept. 23, a Palestinian official told Hürriyet Daily News.