Erdogan vows not to restore relations with Israel until it lifts the Gaza blockade

Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has appealed to the Turkish opposition party, CHP (Republican People’s Party), to change its stances and to refrain from siding with Israel which ‘kills innocent Palestinians’. He also called on CHP not to stand on the side of ‘Syria’s oppressive regime’.

During the opening speech of the fourth convention of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan said that, “Israel is unjust toward the Palestinian people – we reviewed our policies regarding Israel in light of its injustice against the Palestinian people. And we will stand by the Palestinian people, as well as the oppressed peoples in Bosnia, Myanmar, Somalia and everywhere else in the world.”

---

Erdogan asserted that Turkey would not restore its relations with Israel — which practices “state terrorism” — until it lifts the blockade on the Gaza Strip and apologizes for the attack on the Freedom Flotilla.

He also stressed the importance of supporting the Palestinian cause and expressed his confidence that “all Palestinian cities will be liberated. We cannot change our position on the Palestinian issue.”