Deputy PM criticizes Kerry's remarks on Erdoğan's Gaza visit

ANKARA

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç. AA Photo

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç criticized today U.S. State Secretary John Kerry’s recent comments on a planned visit to Gaza by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“His comments that ‘we do not want the prime minister to go in May’ are not right in a diplomatic sense,” Arınç told a press conference. “A foreign minister should not express, and should not have expressed, their opinion regarding a planned visit by the Turkish prime minister. An experienced foreign minister would definitely not have made such remarks.”

Kerry told reporters in Istanbul on April 21 that he believed that “it would be more helpful [for Erdogan] to wait for the right circumstance .... We’re trying to get off the ground, and we would like to see the parties with as little outside distraction as possible.”

Peace process
 
Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister also thanked the wise people commissions in the name of the Turkish nation, saying that he had been informed about protests organized against commission members conducting official visits to the different regions.
 
"The [wise people] should be appreciated," Arınç said. "Criticism and questions are normal, the abnormal thing is protesting them by holding flags and talking without thinking."
 
When asked about the statement by the Turkish Armed Forces saying that "the fight against terrorism is continuing," Arınç said the peace process and fighting against terrorism were two different things.
 
"The peace process continues and fighting against terrorism continues, too. Everyone is on duty," he said.