Palestinian, Egyptian FMs to visit Turkey

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Egyptian FM Mohammed Kamel Amr (R) talks with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in this file photo. Amr will meet with Turkish PM. AFP photo

Turkey will host Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr on Nov. 9 as part of efforts to support a Palestinian bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations.

So far Turkey has backed Palestinian plans for a resolution to obtain “nonmember state” status that will be presented to the General Assembly of the United Nations. Palestine is currently listed as a U.N. observer “entity” with no voting rights and a high-profile bid in 2011 to obtain full member status stalled before it was put to a vote in the U.N. Security Council. Yet in 2011 the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) became the first U.N. agency to accept Palestine as a full member.
As Palestine sought support from at least 150 nations in its plans to pursue nonmember status at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September, Washington urged the Palestinian authority to delay its upgrade plans until after the U.S. elections in November.

The Egyptian minister will have preparatory talks with his Turkish counterpart regarding Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s upcoming visit to Cairo, sources from the embassy of Egypt said Nov. 2. Erdoğan will visit Cairo for the second round of cooperation council meetings, established in 2011.