‘Erdogan set to meet Abbas in Ankara next week’
In addition, Turkish prime minister scheduled to travel to Hamas-ruled Gaza in May
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Turkey and meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan next week, AFP reported Wednesday.
The meeting would be yet another step by Erdogan in a series of recent moves aimed to reestablish his country’s role in the region.
In March, Erdogan spoke on the phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first conversation between the two since nine Turkish nationals were killed by Israeli commandos in the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.
After the conversation, there were reports that Turkey might play a role mediating between Jerusalem and Ramallah in future peace talks, an idea dismissed by International Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz as “baseless.”
On Sunday, the Turkish prime minister reiterated his intention to visit the Gaza Strip in May, after a stop in Washington, where he will meet US President Barack Obama and other administration officials.
Back-to-back meetings with Abbas of Fatah and the Hamas rulers of Gaza could indicate a Turkish attempt to reconcile between the two factions, which have been at odds since Hamas’s violent coup in Gaza in 2007.