Peace won’t come by killing negotiators, Türkiye tells Israel

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli has urged Israel that it won’t achieve peace by killing negotiators and threatening diplomats in response to Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz’ message targeting Türkiye.

“You can’t achieve peace by killing negotiators, threatening diplomats,” said Keçeli through his social media account on Aug. 2, referring to Israel’s assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh was leading Hamas’ negotiations with Israel for a ceasefire before he was killed in Tehran earlier this week. Hamas says prospects for an agreement with Israel have been crippled as a result of the killing.

Keçeli’s urging was a response to a message by Katz who criticized Türkiye for lowering its flag to half-staff at the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv. Türkiye declared one day of mourning and lowered all the flags to half-staff.