Turkey denies claim that its territories were used to attack Israel

ANKARA

Turkey has rejected the accusations that Hamas was coordinating attacks against Israel from the Turkish territories, a claim published by the Daily Telegraph and supported later by a former Israeli diplomat.

“We firmly reject the accusation that the Turkish territory is being used for any act against Israel or any other country,” said the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Twitter Dec. 19. The ministry recalled that the majority of the international community considers Hamas not as a terrorist organization but as a political reality which has won the elections in Gaza back in 2006.

“It is worth recalling that the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) rejected branding Hamas as a terrorist organization last year. Various countries, including Turkey, have contacts with Hamas at different levels,” it added.

A piece published by the Daily Telegraph on Dec. 17 claimed that the Hamas operatives were coordinating their attacks against Israeli positions from Istanbul and with the knowledge of the Turkish government.

“Transcripts of Israeli police interrogations with suspects show that senior Hamas operatives are using Turkey’s largest city to direct operations in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, including an assassination attempt earlier this year on the mayor of Jerusalem,” alleged the newspaper.