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Turkey – Hamas

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation but a liberation group waging a fight to protect its country. “Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, it is a group of mujahedeen defending their country,” he said, according to several media outlets. In a speech to his party in the Turkish parliament, Erdogan said Israel had exploited Turkey’s good intentions. Therefore, he will not go to Israel as previously planned. He said Israeli “settlement terror” in the occupied West Bank must end and the “barbaric” counterattack on Gaza must stop. Erdogan calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian forces. At the same time, he calls for an international peace conference to be convened for Israel and Palestine. In this context, he asks Palestinians to unite in the desire for a two-state solution, establishing an Israel and a Palestine living in peace side by side. A solution that Hamas has so far been completely opposed to. /ritzau/