Erdoğan urges Turkic states to increase pressure on Israel

BISHKEK

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has described Israel as a threat to the global system and called on the Turkic states to raise pressure on it.

“It is extremely important for us, the Turkic world, to maintain our efforts for a lasting and fair solution of the Palestinian issue,” Erdoğan said at a press conference with Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov on Nov. 5 in Bishkek.

Erdoğan and Japarov chaired the 6th meeting of the Türkiye-Kyrgyzstan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council where the two countries vowed to further deepen bilateral ties.

Mentioning the ongoing Israeli attacks against Gaza and Lebanon which have already killed around 50,000 civilians, Erdoğan said this aggression by the Israeli state deeply wounds the consciences at a global level.

“Israel’s attacks on Lebanon now threaten the security of the entire region and the international system,” the Turkish president underlined, recalling that the Organization of the Turkic States (OTC) had already condemned the targeting of civilians and called for an urgent ceasefire in previous summits.

“It is extremely important for us, the Turkic world, to maintain our efforts for a lasting and fair solution of the Palestinian issue. In this regard, I thank Kyrgyzstan for its support to our multilateral initiatives, including the United Nations, in order to increase the international pressure on Israel,” he stressed.

On bilateral issues, Erdoğan recalled that the two countries signed 19 agreements and a joint declaration on the margins of the high-level strategic council meeting in a clear indication of the two sides’ willingness to further intensify ties.

“With the document we have just signed, we have elevated our strategic partnership relations, which we established in 2011, to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership that befits our brotherhood,” he stated.

The two leaders voiced their mutual aim to increase the bilateral trade volume to $5 billion in the coming period as Erdoğan pointed out that Türkiye is among the top five biggest investors in the Central Asian country.

Stating that during their bilateral meeting with Japarov, they agreed on increasing the goal of the bilateral trade volume to some $5 billion, Erdoğan pointed out that Türkiye is among the biggest investing countries in Kyrgyzstan.

Touching on the FETÖ presence in Kyrgyzstan, Erdoğan said: “I believe that our fight against terror in all its forms, FETO in particular, will uninterruptedly continue. We want to further strengthen our cooperation through the security cooperation agreement we will sign today.”

Kyrgyzstan will host the OTC summit on Nov. 6 with the participation of the leaders of the Turkic states, including Azerbaijan.