Turkey ready to take any necessary step on Palestine: FM
ANKARA
Turkey has vowed to take any necessary step for the Palestinians under the Israeli attack while calling on the world to stand united and determined.
“It’s time to show our unity and determination. The ummah expects leadership from us. Turkey is ready to take any necessary step,” Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in his address to the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) extraordinary executive-committee meeting convened virtually on May 16.
Holding Israel responsible for the escalating tensions in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, Çavuşoğlu described the military operations as “a part of Israel’s systematic ethnic, religious and cultural cleansing.”
The Turkish foreign minister warned that a two-state solution would be physically impossible given the increased illegal Jewish settlements and destruction of the Palestinian residential areas.
The United Nations Security Council has failed to bring about an initiative for the de-escalation of tensions due to the United States, Çavuşoğlu stressed, adding that a meeting has been planned at the U.N. General Assembly and that he would participate in that meeting. In this frame, a commission to observe the situation in Palestine might be established at the U.N. Human Rights Commission, he added.
“We cannot just make declarations and statements. We must do more. The international community has a responsibility to protect Palestinian civilians, and the OIC has a big responsibility in this context,” he stated.
“We should strive to establish an international protection mechanism to protect Palestinian civilians in accordance with the 2018 resolution of the United Nations General Assembly,” the minister added.
This protection mechanism can be formed by the financial and military contributions of the volunteer countries, he said, underlining the role of the International Penal Court in holding Israel responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Criticizing the countries that are supporting Israel’s aggression, Çavuşoğlu said: “It is not surprising that the same people are known for racist and anti-Islamic policies. History will judge these people. But if we make reluctant statements within our own family, then how do we criticize others? Who will take us seriously?”
Some countries’ efforts to normalize ties with Israel are also encouraging the Israeli government’s attacks on Palestinians, he said, urging, “Our stance has to be clear. We should stand on the right side of history by embracing humanity and justice.”
Erdoğan speaks with Rouhani
In the meantime, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken with Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani on the phone to discuss the recent escalation between Israel and Palestine after the former’s attacks on civilians, as well as bilateral ties, according to a statement issued by the Presidential Communications Directorate May 16.
Erdoğan told Rouhani that Turkey expressed the strongest reaction against Israel’s attacks and persecution in Palestine and that the Islamic world must act and speak in unity on this issue. He also underlined the need for the international community to give a strong and deterrent lesson to Israel’s flagrant attacks.