By Naser Jafari
31/01/2009 One day after storming out of a heated debate on Israel's Gaza war at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained his position towards the war and the conflict in general in an interview published Saturday in which he slammed once again the Zionist entity for the massacres it has committed in Gaza.
Speaking to the Washington Post, the Turkish PM reiterated his fierce criticism of Israeli policy towards the Palestinian Resistance movement of Hamas. "The world has not respected the political will of the Palestinian people," Erdogan said. On the one hand, we defend democracy and we try our best to keep democracy in the Middle East, but on the other hand we do not respect the outcome of . . . the ballot box," he explained.
"Palestine today is an open-air prison. Hamas, as much as they tried, could not change the situation. Just imagine, you imprison the speaker of a country as well as some ministers of its government and members of its parliament. And then you expect them to sit obediently?" Erdogan pointed out.
Evaluating the end result, Erdogan noted that "since December 27 there have been almost 1,300 dead, 6,000 injured, no infrastructure left, no buildings left, everything is damaged, Gaza is a total wreck. It's all closed, under total siege."
"The United Nations Security Council makes a decision, and Israel announces it does not recognize the decision. I'm not saying that Hamas is a good organization and makes no mistakes. They have made mistakes. But I am evaluating the end result," he said.
The Turkish PM explained his frustration against the offensive in Gaza as being linked to December advancements between Israel and Syria, in which Turkey was trying to facilitate direct talks. "Olmert's last sentence (as he left meetings in Ankara) was, "As soon as I get back I will consult with my colleagues and get back to you." As I waited for his response, on December 27, bombs started falling on Gaza." On the night of December 23, Erdogan said, Israel and Syria were "very close" to moving to direct peace talks on the future of the Golan Heights.
"We also took part in the peace talks between Israel and Palestine," Erdogan noted. He clarified that he was referring to December meetings between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Despite Abbas' Fatah connection, Erdogan emphasized the importance of engaging Hamas in the process. "When I was talking with Prime Minister Olmert, I said regarding the Palestine-Israeli talks it would not be correct not to include Hamas in the negotiations. They entered the election in Palestine and won the majority of seats in the parliament," he said, adding that Olmert had not agreed to speak with Hamas.
Within the context of these negotiations, Erdogan said he had believed he could potentially secure the release of detained soldier Gilad Shalit, in exchange for Hamas detainees. "I said to Prime Minister Olmert that if you want us to mediate in order to get the Israeli soldier freed, we can do this and we believe we can achieve something. But . . . once the soldier is free, Israel should (release from jail) Hamas's speaker of parliament and its members of parliament," he said.
In a final question, Erdogan was asked about new US President Barack Obama and whether it was expected that he would play a more even-handed role between Palestinians and Israelis. "There is no justice right now. We expect justice from now on," Erdogan responded.
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