In a historic speech to the Turkish Parliament in the capital Ankara, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saluted the solidarity of the people of Türkiye with Palestinians amid the Palestine-Israel conflict and appreciated Türkiye’s official policy that made the Palestinian cause central to its efforts.
Abbas's speech, which lasted less than one hour, was often interrupted by applause from lawmakers and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who attended the special session of Parliament, which returned from a summer recess for Abbas. Everyone in attendance wore shawls with flags of Türkiye and Palestine as they listened attentively to the Palestinian leader who met Erdoğan and Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş before his speech.
Abbas warned against Israel’s attempts to spread the conflict to the wider Middle East, adding that they won’t allow Zionists to try to control the whole region.
The president said Gaza cannot be considered a separate entity and it was part of the Palestine state, adding that Israel’s genocide aimed to destroy the entire Palestinian state. He stated that Israel's war criminals would not go unpunished as he cited ongoing cases of genocide against the Netanyahu administration for what transpired in Gaza.
Abbas slammed the United States, which he termed a “plague” for its “relentless” support of Israel. He said he would work with all Palestinians to stop Israeli aggression even if it means “risking my life.”
He stated that he’d visit Gaza and reiterated that Gaza, along with West Bank and Jerusalem are part of the Palestinian state.
"I have decided to go to Gaza with other brothers from the Palestinian leadership," Abbas said to a standing ovation from Turkish lawmakers. "I will do that. Even if this would cost my life. Our lives are not more worthy than the life of a child," he added.
He said that the Palestinian people would stand tall despite the Israeli strikes. "Gaza is ours as a whole. We don't accept any solution that would divide our territories," he told Parliament. "There cannot be a Palestinian state without Gaza. Our people will not surrender," he promised.
Abbas has addressed Parliament twice in the past but Thursday’s speech is viewed as critical for Türkiye, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, as Ankara seeks more pressure on Israel to stop its attacks in Gaza and a lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Abbas rarely travels outside Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is located, though the flareup of the Palestine-Israel conflict spurred renewed diplomacy to resolve longstanding issues, as well as maintaining ultimate unity between rival Fatah and Hamas factions. Abbas, 88, had reportedly postponed his visit to Türkiye due to health reasons. He last visited Türkiye for a three-day visit in March and met President Erdoğan. Erdoğan also brought together Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, who was assassinated in Tehran recently, as a step toward reconciliation between Abbas’ Fatah and Hamas, which faces a brutal crackdown in Gaza. Abbas flew to Türkiye from Moscow where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week.
Parliament invited representatives of political parties, ambassadors and journalists to the session. It also held an exhibition on the sidelines of the session that focused on Haniyeh, including photos of the late leader’s visits to Türkiye, as well as documents from Ottoman archives about Palestine and Parliament’s past joint declarations about Palestine.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which holds a majority in Parliament, is a major supporter of the Palestinian cause and often calls for a two-state solution to the conflict based on a free State of Palestine. The Turkish opposition also endorses Palestine against Israel, though the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), equally blames Hamas for the conflict, a rhetoric copied from the Western countries supporting Israel.
Ankara has been fiercely critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which it says amounts to genocide, and has halted all bilateral trade. It has also slammed many Western allies for their support of Israel and repeatedly called for Muslim unity to facilitate a desperately needed cease-fire.
Earlier this month, Erdoğan called attention to mounting problems and pressure in the international system, especially amid Israel's ongoing attacks on Gaza. "World politics is navigating one of its sharpest turns. There is a serious power vacuum in the international system and we are facing a loss of morality and conscience," Erdoğan said in a speech in Ankara.
"With the Gaza crisis, the global system has become bankrupt," said Erdoğan.
"Words are no longer enough to describe the genocide that the Palestinian people are subjected to in Gaza," he added.
