I am focused on my job, not the prime ministry: Turkish FM Davutoğlu

ANKARA

Davutoğlu's name is rumored among the possible prime minister candidates if PM Erdoğan wins the upcoming presidential elections. REUTERS Photo

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has parried speculation about his possible assumption of the prime minister’s post, saying he was focusing on his current job, particularly Palestine and Libya.

“Nowadays, day and night, I try to do my job,” the minister said July 24 in a televised interview.

“Attaching importance to issues, primarily my personal ones, during these extraordinary days would be disloyalty,” Davutoğlu said.

The minister noted he was involved in the Gaza issue around the clock, noting his diplomatic activities between iftar and sahur on the subject. “Then I see it in my dreams.”

Turkey, the United States, Qatar and Egypt have been conducting intense work since last week to secure a truce in Gaza, Davutoğlu said, noting that they had launched “a new serious process after agreeing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.”

Efforts are underway for a reconciled “draft deal” on a truce, he said.

Davutoğlu said he spoke late July 23 with his U.S. and Qatari counterparts, as well as Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.  

“We are trying to resolve the disagreements,” Davutoğlu said, citing Israel’s demand for an urgent cease-fire and a subsequent negotiations of terms and Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s demands for guarantees that the blockade be lifted against Gaza with any truce.