Türkiye on Tuesday threw its support behind a 12-nation initiative led by the United Kingdom, France and Canada to ban trade and business dealings with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling for broader international action against Israel's unlawful settlement expansion.
The Foreign Ministry said Ankara welcomed and supported measures taken by the 12 countries targeting commercial ties with illegal settlements.
"Israel's efforts to eliminate the two-state solution are intensifying by the day," the ministry said, warning that illegal settlements have evolved into a "systematic policy of occupation" that threatens the existence of a Palestinian state.
The ministry also said violence by illegal Israeli settlers had reached the level of "ethnic cleansing."
Ankara argued that an adequate international response to Israel's occupation policies has become essential to achieving a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region.
Against this backdrop, Türkiye called on other responsible members of the international community to adopt similar measures against illegal settlements.
Türkiye reiterated that it would continue working toward the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with territorial integrity, based on the 1967 borders and with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.
