President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi Thursday on the sidelines of the 16th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Uzbekistan’s Tashkent.
The Palestine-Israel conflict situation in Gaza dominated the talks, according to Turkish sources. Presidency’s Communications Directorate said in a statement that two leaders discussed the humanitarian crisis stemming from Israeli attacks on Gaza, steps to be taken for the solution, Turkish-Iranian relations and regional issues.
Erdoğan highlighted that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) extraordinary summit set to be held in Saudi Arabia over the weekend should focus on a fair solution, noting that an end to Israeli attacks would serve regional and global peace.
Erdoğan told Raisi that Türkiye was ready to contribute to the solution through guarantorship. He also stressed that the Islamic world should adopt a common stance to exert pressure on Israel for a solution to the conflict, according to the Directorate’s statement.
Iran on Thursday rejected a G-7 statement that called on Tehran to stop supporting Hamas and taking actions that “destabilize” the Middle East. Tehran’s comment came a day after foreign ministers from the G-7 group of advanced economies, meeting in Tokyo, expressed support for “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the Palestine-Israel conflict.
The G-7 also called on Iran to “refrain from providing support for Hamas and taking further actions that destabilize the Middle East, including support for Lebanese Hezbollah and other non-state actors.”
On Thursday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani “strongly condemned” the statement by the group, which includes the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy, France and Japan. He said Iran has engaged in “non-stop efforts to stop military attacks of the Zionist aggressor regime (Israel) on the defenseless citizens” in Gaza.
“What was expected from the meeting of the Group of seven foreign ministers in Tokyo was to fulfill their international responsibility, including condemning the acts of the Zionist regime that violate human rights and international law in Gaza,”he added.
