site.btaErdogan Says Turkiye Ready to Act as Guarantor in Gaza

Turkiye is ready to act as a guarantor country to settle the crisis in the Gaza Strip, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, as quoted by Turkish media. He was speaking to journalists on board an airplane which carried him home from Astana.

Erdogan was in Kazakhstan's capital for a summit of the Organization of Turkic States.

"We stated at the very beginning we are ready to assume that responsibility. What can be more natural than Turkiye acting as a guarantor country in Gaza?" Erdogan said.

He proposed a conference in Turkiye to discuss the situation in the Middle East, which he said should bring together all parties interested in achieving peace. He said: "Our main goal is to establish definitive peace regarding the Israeli-Palestinian question. We are launching initiatives and devising formulas to this end, and we will continue to do so. We are determined to do everything possible to end the bloodshed and establish peace. Our goal is to achieve lasting and sustainable peace which can bring relief to our region. We call for that, and we want to bring all interested parties to a conference."

According to the Turkish leader, Gaza should be part of an independent Palestinian state after the end of the war between Israel and the Hamas group. Ankara will not support models which gradually obliterate the Palestinians from history.

Erdogan said Ibrahim Kalin, the Director of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, is in contact with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities and with Hamas, Haberturk reported.

Erdogan said he no longer takes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his interlocutor, but added that Ankara will not sever its relations with Israel, CNN Turk reported. 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Turkiye at the end of November to discuss the Gaza conflict, Erdogan said. He said he will have no more confidence in the world system unless Israel is stopped and held responsible for its "war crimes and human rights violations". The Organization of Islamic Cooperation will insist on a ceasefire at its summit in Riyadh later this month, Erdogan said.