Israel Matzav

US asked Erdogan not to go to Gaza next month either

In Turkey, to meet with 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen, US Secretary of State John FN Kerry said on Sunday that the United States has asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to postpone (indefinitely?) his plans to visit Gaza.

"We thought that the timing of it is really critical with respect to the peace process we are trying to get off the ground and that we would like to see the parties begin with as little outside distraction as possible," Kerry told a news conference in Istanbul.

The planned trip also would come at a sensitive time for Turkish-Israeli relations, with Washington keen to avoid spoiling a rapprochement between them following an Israeli apology in March for the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was in Istanbul over the weekend to also ask Erdogan to cancel his plans to visit Gaza.

“President Abbas is hoping to convince Erdogan to cancel the visit or delay it until the Palestinians achieve national unity,” a PA official in Ramallah said last week.

The PA believes that a visit by Erdogan to Gaza would deepen Palestinian divisions, said Azzam al-Ahmed, member of the Fatah Central Committee and a close adviser to Abbas.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, John Kerry, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:17 PM