Hamas is a movement of national liberation elected by the Palestinian people Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.
In an interview with Israeli Channel 2 the Turkish President dismissed categorizing Hamas as a terrorist organization calling it an elected political party and a national movement born out of a legitimate struggle for liberation.
He said the Israelis should rather negotiate with Hamas—the people’s elect—after they failed to reach a deal with the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas following decades of stalled peace talks.
Asked whether he was confident Hamas would not import resistance weaponry to Gaza Erdogan responded: “I cannot guarantee anything. Who can guarantee that Israel does not attack Gaza anymore?”
Commenting on a question about the Israeli soldiers held captive by Hamas Erdogan said that thousands of Palestinians are locked up in Israeli jails and that an exchange should be negotiated to release the detainees.
He expressed his readiness to broker prisoner swap negotiations should Israel show a readiness to free the Palestinian captives.
As regards the normalization deal with Israel Erdogan reminded the audience that the accord saw the day following three provisos set by Turkey: Apologizing over the deadly attack on Marmara shelling out compensations and lifting the siege on Gaza.
