Türkiye totally rejects Trump’s Gaza plan

ANKARA

Türkiye has expressed its rejection to United States’ President Donald Trump’s proposal of the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, adding no country in the region, including Türkiye can accept such an idea.

“Deportation (of Palestinians) is something neither we nor the region can accept. Even thinking of it is absurd. Even launching a debate on it is wrong,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview with Anadolu Agency on Feb. 5.

On a question about Trump’s proposal of sending Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, Fidan said “This is unacceptable” and added that all regional powers have shown the same reaction.

Recalling that the source of the Palestine problem is forced displacement of Palestinians from their territories, the minister stressed that putting a similar offer on the table at a time there is a general acceptance of the need for a two-state solution in the region is wrong.

On a question about plans to exclude Hamas from administrating and reconstructing Gaza, Fidan said “We are against any attempts to by-pass the Gazan people from the management and reconstruction of Gaza. We are against, not because we are taking sides but this is against the nature of it.”

In the meantime, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş also voiced opposition to Trump’s Gaza plan.

In an address to the Diplomatic Academy in Ankara on Feb. 5, Kurtulmuş said “This is unacceptable. Gaza belongs to Palestinians and will remain so until doomsday.”

“Those who have forgotten the lessons they have taken from Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza have no right to lead the region to another adventure,” he added.