Hamas leader Haniyeh to visit Turkey this weekend: Erdogan

IRAN :– Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he will host the leader of the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas Ismail Haniyeh, in Turkey this weekend.

“The leader of the Palestinian cause will be my guest this weekend,” Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israel’s conflict in Gaza, told lawmakers, Agence France Presse reported.

“Even if only I, Tayyip Erdogan, remain, I will continue as long as God gives me my life, to defend the Palestinian struggle and to be the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people,” the Turkish president said, calling Hamas an emancipatory group.

Erdogan did not say where he would meet the Hamas political leader, but NTV television reported that they would hold talks on Saturday at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.

Their last meeting was in July 2023 when Erdogan hosted Haniyeh and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas at the presidential palace in Ankara.

Israel waged its brutal war on besieged Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out an unprecedented operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel has imposed a complete siege on the densely populated territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

(MNA)