Turkey warmly welcomes PA leader Abbas after restoring full ties with Israel

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) walks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (C) during an official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on August 23, 2022. (Adem Altan/AFP)
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) walks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (C) during an official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on August 23, 2022. (Adem Altan/AFP)

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey says that its restoration of full diplomatic relations with Israel doesn’t mean a shift in Middle Eastern allegiances as it warmly welcomes Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The PA leader met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks and a private dinner on his second visit to Turkey in a year.

The talks came just a week after Turkey and Israel sealed a rapprochement from a decade of rocky relations by announcing plans to reappoint ambassadors for the first time in four years.

Erdogan has been a fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause who has branded Israel a “terrorist state.”

He held the veteran Palestinian leader by the hand while gingerly walking him down a turquoise carpet to his presidential palace before a welcoming guard.

“The steps taken in our relations with Israel will in no way diminish our support for the Palestinian cause,” Erdogan later tells a joint media event.

“Turkey defends its vision of a two-state solution on every platform, and we have clearly demonstrated our response to the Israeli attacks and civilian casualties.”

Abbas doesn’t mention Turkish-Israeli relations in his comments but thanked Erdogan for his past support.

“I would like to thank you for the close attention and hospitality you have shown us,” Abbas tells Erdogan.

“I would like to reiterate my gratitude for the fact that Turkey and the Turkish government are on the side of Palestine.”

Abbas’s visit is widely seen as an attempt by Turkey to show that it stood by old allies even as it repairs relations with more recent rivals.

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