Middle East, Erdogan calls Putin. What they say on the phone

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the situation in the Middle East by telephone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. This was reported by the Turkish Presidency. Ria Novosti reports this. During the telephone conversation, Erdogan assured that Ankara will make every effort to ease tension in the region. “Noting that violence against the Palestinian territories is worsening and the number of civilian victims is growing by the minute, President Erdogan stated that the silence of Western states has led the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip to assume unprecedented proportions”, explains the note from the Turkish Presidency.

Previously, the president of Turkey had demonstrated his position against Hamas representatives present on its territory. Turkey asked Hamas representatives, who had been staying on its territory for years, to leave the country. The news was reported by the Middle East Eye portal, according to which Ankara’s discontent became evident after the attack launched by the Islamic Movement against Israeli civilians on October 7th, forcing many members of the group to leave a country that has represented a safe haven for years. The Turkish government does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization, but neither President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan liked the videos celebrating the attack – starring the Movement’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh – filmed in Istanbul and released on Internet. The interviews given on Turkish soil by representatives of Hamas, such as Saleh al Arouri and Khaled Meshal, in which the military action of October 7th was glorified and the massacre and kidnapping of civilians, were also considered unpleasant in Ankara. According to what Middle East Eye reports, Hamas members were literally removed. The question remains as to what will happen in the future and whether they will be able to return. The group’s representatives, in fact, use Turkey as a safe port to disembark and move from. In recent days, negotiations have taken place in Qatar and its departure may only be temporary. However, Ankara’s annoyance remains: in addition to the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel, which only reactivated its diplomatic relations last year, the Turkish government considers any form of attack against civilians to be terrorism. A red line that Hamas crossed and for which it could now pay the consequences.