APA

Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke for a length of time about Palestinian
issue, but didn’t touch upon occupation of Azerbaijani lands
[ 25 Sep 2009 12:11 ]

Baku ` APA. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the
UN General Assembly’s 64th session.

He spoke for a length of time about the Palestinian issue, but didn’t
touch upon the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and was satisfied only
couple of common sentences about Nagorno Karabakh conflict, APA
reports quoting CNN Turk. He said Turkey deeply concerned over the
Palestinian conflict and said resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict based on two states existing in peace and security was
indispensable to both regional and global peace. He said Turkey always
supported Palestinian people and would continue its support further.
The Prime Minister reminded about the Israeli military operation in
2008. `The three-week Israeli military offensive at the start of the
year, which Israel said was to end rocket attacks by militants
operating in Gaza, quickly turned into a human tragedy. The conflict
resulted in the death of some 1,400 Palestinians, mostly women and
children, and more than 5,000 injuries. Many buildings in Gaza were
turned to rubble, and even UN sites came under attack. Mr. Pan Ki-Moon
saw those sites and expressed his protests. It has been eight months
since the declaration of the ceasefire that ended the hostilities in
Gaza and months had also passed since an international conference in
Egypt pledged billions of dollars for the reconstruction of the
area. However, I regret that the human tragedy in Gaza still goes
on. Turkey has on every possible occasion stressed that it is not
possible to turn a blind eye to the appalling conditions in Gaza. It
is our common
humanitarian and moral responsibility to ensure that the tragedy
unfolding in Gaza is brought to an end, and an atmosphere of lasting
peace is created in the region. We demand that these obstacles are
immediately lifted and normalcy restored to Gaza for the sake of peace
and security of both Israel and the Palestinians’, said Erdogan.
The Prime Minister also touched upon actions taken toward
normalization of relations with Armenia. `Our efforts toward
normalization of relation with our neighbor Armenia bring its
results. It is time to solve conflicts in the Caucasus, particularly
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict within the territorial integrity of
the countries’, said Erdogan.
In his statements made in Turkey, Erdgoan always said that the borders
with Armenia would be never opened before ending of occupation of
Azerbaijani lands, but in his speeches in the United States he didn’t
mention this issue because there is no such condition in the protocols
initialed between Turkey and Armenia. Erdogan and his team aim to
avoid the pressure of the Turkish community and to calm the people
with those statements.
The Islamists (or forces using Islam for their political goals) in
Turkey pay great attention to the Palestinian problem, but remain
indifferent to the issues related to Azerbaijan and Turkic world.