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Turkish FM Davutoğlu meets Hamas chief amid Israel row

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Exiled Hamas leader Meshaal's visit to Ankara in 2006 sparked concerns in both at home and abroad with the Israeli officials slamming Ankara. AFP photo

Exiled Hamas leader Meshaal's visit to Ankara in 2006 sparked concerns in both at home and abroad with the Israeli officials slamming Ankara. AFP photo

Amid ongoing tensions in Turkish-Israeli relations, Turkey’s foreign minister held unannounced talks Monday in Damascus with a senior Hamas leader whose visit to Ankara four years ago drew the ire of Tel Aviv.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Hamas leader Khaleed Meshaal discussed the ongoing internal divisions between two major Palestinian groups, Hamas and al-Fatah, and also reviewed the efforts to revive peace talks between Palestine and Israel, Anatolia news agency reported early Tuesday.

The meeting took place in Damascus as the Turkish foreign minister was paying a half-day visit to Syria to hold talks with authorities regarding bilateral issues and the fight against terrorism.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently attempted to facilitate a process of reconciliation between Hamas and al-Fatah, but the effort received a cold response from Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, in which al-Fatah plays a prominent role. In the talks Monday, Davutoğlu reportedly focused on overcoming differences between the two groups to form a united political Palestinian body.

The welcoming in Ankara of a delegation led by Meshaal in February 2006, following Hamas’ victory in Palestinian elections, angered Israeli officials, who have long been concerned about the Turkish government’s relations with the group. Opposition parties in Turkey have meanwhile accused the government of acting “as the spokesperson of Hamas.”

In response to such criticisms, Erdoğan has said he does not see Hamas as a terrorist organization but as “a resistance group defending [its] territory.”

Hamas is acknowledged as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union, though there is a growing belief that any peace effort in the Middle East should include Hamas as well.

While in Damascus, Davutoğlu also held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who is trying to form a government.

“I have observed progress in the efforts to establish the government in Iraq,” the Turkish foreign minister told reporters.


 

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READER COMMENTS

Guest - ted
2010-07-23 07:16:41
  I am amazed at how many Zionists and Jews are making anti-Turkish comments. Is the Daily News owned by Turks or Jews? I sometimes wonder.
  

Guest - Jumpy Humpy
2010-07-22 14:30:58
  Anton. I am not going to calm down. You show an unusually unpleasant side of yours whith your remark. Foreigners are sending help to people in great need, and how do you comment it? You are not the slightest grateful, but instead try to find something to critisize your saviour for. Do you act like that if someone is helpful to you in general? In that case you have some serious problems to deal with. I personally believe that it is a human duty to try to help other people, regardless of religion, but obviously believe that to help someone is a sign of guilt and weakness. I guess you did not bother going to the bank to give money to the disaster in Haiti either?
  

Guest - anton
2010-07-21 19:14:53
  @ jumpy humpy calm down mate just think out of the box and if you are turk i suggest go to israeli blogs to see how they think of you may it be easy
  

Guest - Dangor
2010-07-21 17:47:55
  Funny how Turks criticize Europe for their alleged support of PKK, while meeting and expressing Turkey's support for an organization, designated as terrorist by the EU and US. By the way this organization is responsible for killing scores of the civilians from these countries. And then Turkey wants the European support for their apology demands against Israel. At least Israel expressed it's regret over the death of the Turks, while Hamas is proud of killing civilians.
  

Guest - Hensel Peterson
2010-07-21 14:43:28
  This meeting could lead to serious consequences for FM Davutoglu, as the HAMAS is listed as a terrorist organization, the United States and the European Union. Recently the IHH in Germany was closed because of links to terrorist organization HAMAS. Therefore FM Davutoglu should take care not to visit Germany or USA this times, otherwise he could be imprisoned as a terrorist sympathizer :-)
  

Guest - Jumpy Humpy
2010-07-21 12:55:27
  Anton. I think your comment was one of the sickest and most mentally twisted I have read on this forum. To claim, if you get help from a friend during a horrible distaster, that they are doing it because of guilt consious is just lower than acceptable. I am sure the victims and their families during the disaster are very happy to be alive, and that is something we all should be grateful for. I have friends who barely survived from the disaster and who still suffer from it due to disability and mental problems. So you should be ashame when you talk about the helping hands in the way you do!!
  

Guest - Serasen
2010-07-21 12:39:25
  Mr. Davutoglu is dealing with terrorists? I thought Turkey even doesn't comments statements of terrorists?! I am confused, but perhaps this is serving as a first lesson to afterward meet PKK leader Karayilan or Öcalan?!
  

Guest - anton
2010-07-21 12:20:08
  @israeli let me ask you a question why israel is always first country to send aid whenever a disaster happens can it be beacuse of guilty conscience im only asking your opinion? second we will never ask any help from israel never but i think that you will ask our help only time will show aint it?
  

Guest - Partick
2010-07-21 12:17:05
  The Israelis stole Palestinian land with the backing of the UN. The answer is simple give the Palestinians their Land back.
  

Guest - Diyar
2010-07-21 12:15:57
  Faisal and hussen, u comment are far long from the reallity .u can not compare between pkk and hamas.PKK is freedom fighter and fighting in a fair maner with turkish army only while hamas is killing and boming kid and women. kurds ahve been kicked out of thier land their housed and villages been destried how cyncal is that to diny it. pkk do not kill inoccent people as hamas does.
  

Guest - israeli
2010-07-21 10:24:16
  after earthquake 1999 in the turkey, israel was the first country which send people to rescue and to help people in turkey. also turkish civilians were saved from israelis. also israelis gathered tonnes of goods for people who suffered from earthquake. no iran, syria, no saudi arabia, no hamas helped at all. YOU WILL RECOGNIZE YOUR TRUELY FRIEND (independed from religion or race, etc), IN THE TIME YOU NEED HELP!!! and now your AKP and Erdogan supports Hamas, which want to erase israel from landscape. in other words to kill all israeli people. it is very sad for me!
  

Guest - Faisal
2010-07-21 10:00:09
  This is only disgusting to compare kurd propblem with paletaninan.Jews come from no where and expelled palestianians from there own land .and telling that god has promised them this land.What is this .Now people who have been expelled from there homes and have become refugees in there own land ,have every right to reisistance.Now the usa ,british goverments are controlled by power full jewish lobby and that is why they call hamas reisitance illegal.These countries have fighted for there freedom and call the people who were killed as national heros..What wrong is with hamas.Tommorow GOD will not tell us what israle did with palestanians ,he will tell us tell me what you people did for them.kurd problem is internal proplem and they are fighting for there rights,no body has taken there land ,no body expelled them from houses.no body destroyed there houses
  

Guest - Hulya
2010-07-21 09:58:34
  Why are we spending our limited resources on Palestine and the Israel problem? I would argue that we need to spend our sparse time and money on 1) Turkey's domestic problems (in particular PKK and EU related reforms) and 2) Our EU negotiations. Both areas are far more important for the average Turk than getting involved with a conflict we have nothing to do with, and from which we might even get negative outcomes (ruin the relationship with Israel and "taking the wrong side" in the eyes of the West which could possibly back fire in the future).
  

Guest - Hussen
2010-07-21 09:36:47
  Russia's prime minister and foreign minister meets with Meshaal ... why should Turkey be different? Turkey is no longer thinking small. Its thinking and demanding just like Russia and US are and I am not surprised as Turkey knows this region more than everyone else, having rulled it for centuries and more importantly lies in its borders. Hamas and PKK are not the same. PKK is a terrorist organisation that kills innocent people. Hamas has never targeted innocent civilians, which is targeted by Israel. In the past I used to think like Benjamin but the more I read about this conflict, the better I understood how immigrants from Russia, EU and USA have taken over palestinian lands. Millions of Palestinian refugees are in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan. Has Turkey done similat thing to Kurds? No comparison at all. Kurds have a choice, Hamas activists have no choice. Even Fatah of Mohamuud Abas have no choice despite doing everything USA wanted. Injustice Injustice Injustice ..
  

Guest - John McAuliffee
2010-07-21 09:01:34
  It was not reported wehether Davutoglu discussed with his new counterparts the issues of HUMAN RIGHTS.. After all Turkey these days has a lot in common with Syria Lebanon and Hamas. Funny how two man in Turkey lead the Turkish citizens by the nose with his delusions of grandiose. Davutoglu forgot to invite H Chavez & Ahmadinijad to the meeting.
  

Guest - Eddie
2010-07-21 08:48:47
  Isrealis behaviors are provoking more than any other nationality in this world .The bible says in samuel 15 : 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.'" Isreal slay them , Yoiu were ordered but they will fight back .
  

Guest - jennet
2010-07-21 05:36:12
  Oh dear Hans, we do not need a German to criticise Turkey's foreign minister Mr Davutoglu, when German history is enough proof that your past leaders did a lot more ' bashing'. Please do not ridicule Germany any more, and keep your opinions to yourself. Turkey's minister is a refined man with high morals and has proved his excellent performance on the world stage. Keep up the good job Turkey. You are doing just fine.
  

Guest - Murat
2010-07-21 03:13:23
  A small quiz: What is the difference between Hamas and PKK?
  

Guest - Hakan C
2010-07-21 02:27:23
  Are all you people deliberately being ignorant, or just plane stupid!! No respectable politician, journalist or academic that knows anything about Turkey and Davutoglu, would ever dream of suggesting he was collaborating with Hamas in "suspect" activities (as is being insinuated by some here)!! He is trying to persuade all the factions that are involved with the Palestinian issue to resolve or at least set aside their differences in order that the peace process can be assured, and moved forward without delay!! Israelis, rather than being anti Turkish, perhaps should think twice about what they say! The Israeli government know ALL TOO WELL what Turkey is trying to achieve, but it simply doesn't suit Israel's expansionary designs!! Israel is far too naive and arrogant to see that it actually in their interests and long term security to pursue a viable but fair peace plan!!
  

Guest - adnan
2010-07-21 01:56:10
  Turkish government is fully intitled to meet anyone it thinks is worth of.Turkey does not have to think if israel is gonna be happy about it or not.Since when you comentators think Turkey is an Israeli colony? Israel wants to talk with Abbas but not Hamas. Does it not say something Abbas?
  

Guest - Mike
2010-07-20 23:29:57
  This is just astounding. Turkey calls Hamas a legitimate resistance group, yet the PKK is not a legitimate resistance group? This is clearly biased against israel. Imagine if israel provoked the turks like this?! Turkey annexes 1/2 of cyprus, represses armenians & kurds, throws diplomatic spears at israel - and when israel rightfully defends its borders - turkey demands an apology. Turkey, meet the mirror - sorry if its cruel.
  

Guest - Christoph
2010-07-20 22:03:43
  Turkey aligns itself more and more with the anti-Israel side in the middle east. Very dissapointing.
  

Guest - donha
2010-07-20 21:36:18
  Isn’t Damascus the capital city of Syria? You know, the country that just this week banned burqa’s and headscarves for women in their universities? How very odd that this otherwise very vociferous FM of Turkey is keeping shtum on the issue? Instead he belly aches about ‘Islamophobia’ (by the West of course) while cynically meeting up with world class terrorists. How is he going to defend this piece of classic double dealing? Day by day Turkey becomes less and less a serious partner for the west, just more and more a liability.
  

Guest - Marcus
2010-07-20 19:23:50
  Hamas not terrorist are they not Mr Erdogan?....try and explain that to the Fatah members who were taking from their beds and thrown from the roofs of their apartment blocks under the orders of the Hamas hireachy !...not sure about you Mr Erdogan...I myelf would feel terror at that..
  

Guest - Uri D.
2010-07-20 18:31:54
  Turkey is explicitly terror supporting country, NATO must expel Turkey ASAP.
  

Guest - John
2010-07-20 18:29:50
  Quite Simply - Turkey supports terror! The USA should stop helping turkey fight the PKK - let them taste their own medicine...
  

Guest - bg
2010-07-20 18:07:43
  So the question must be asked, now Turkey openly supports and draws close to and identifies with Hamas, what's wrong with calling Turkey a terrorist state. It looks a terror state, it behaves like a terror state to Israel, to Cyprus, to the Armenians, to its own citizens, surely, it is a fully fledged terror state.
  

Guest - Michael Benjamin
2010-07-20 17:56:04
  The time is always wrong to meet the leader of a terror organisation. Now it is understandable, why the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs issued a travel warning for Turkey.
  

Guest - xinellum
2010-07-20 17:55:42
  Israeli's just can't fathom that the bible that declares their land, is nothing to the rest of the world. Israeli' used terrorism with such groups as the Irgoon and the Stern Gang to drive out the British. Even if we grant them the land the UN gave the in 1949, they still are occupying twice as much land as was granted to them and they stole it using terrorism and land theft. Israel's need to quit crying about terrorist acts that they themselves developed, designed and implemented. I can't see one thing the Palestinians have done that the Israeli's did not utilize to steal the land from the British. Israel needs a big lesson and unfortunately Americans thought it would come with Obama, but Netanyahu has been able to line Obama's pockets and guarantee his future with his PAC buddies and Obama has a backbone like a jelly fish. I can't say much, but I can pretty much guarantee he wont get the votes he got last election based on his Israeli policy.
  

Guest - bopor
2010-07-20 17:48:35
  Well! It is OK for Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to meet with Hamas but the timing to have it now is wrong!
  

Guest - Michael Benjamin
2010-07-20 17:27:35
  I really would like to see the reaction of Erdogan & Co., if Bibi Netanyahu would meet a high ranking delegation of PKK. And the PKK has not the request in their Charter to kill the whole population of the country they fighting against as article 7 of the Hamas Charter.
  

Guest - Israeli
2010-07-20 17:23:51
  "... FM Lieberman met PKK leaders in Greek Cyprus. The FM said Israel does not see the PKK as a terror organization, but as a a resistance group defending its territory... The Israeli FM also talked with Greek Cypriot FM about the Turkish occupation of parts of Cyprus. Israel and Cyprus decided to launch an aid flotilla to the Kurdish legitimate resistance group of the PKK...The Israeli FM also called for the return of millions of Greeks to Constantinopolis, Smyrna, Halicarnasos or Pontus..." Well, nothing of it happened, of course. Now try to understand what the Israelis who lost so many civilians because of Hamas suicide bombs in buses, streets, cafes, universities, schools - think of the current Turkish policy.
  

Guest - Hans
2010-07-20 16:25:25
  Now we know why Mr Davutoglu was bashing Germany concerning the PKK: He himself is meeting the Hamas peace activists! Poor Turkey, how long can you afford ministers like these?
  

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