ANKARA - Chairmen of Turkish Parliamentary friendship groups with Israel and Palestine called on the two parties to declare a cease-fire and resume peace talks.
Turkey-Israel Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Vahit Kirisci and Turkey-Palestine Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Huseyin Tanriverdi held a joint news conference on Friday.
Speaking at the conference, Tanriverdi said, ''unfortunately, our calls for restraint and peace die away among noises of missiles and bombs in the Middle East. Turkey is extremely concerned about acts of violence in the region. We consider recent developments a serious blow on peace, freedom and democracy. Use of extreme force by the regional countries jeopardizes the security in and future of the Middle East. Therefore, we call on the parties to declare a cease-fire and resume peace talks.''
''Islam countries and their peoples are affected most from the atmosphere of chaos in the Middle East. We believe that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) should not remain silent any longer, and hold an extraordinary session over Palestine. Also, Arab countries, which failed to take any tangible steps although all of them pledged to support Palestine, should take immediate action,'' he said.
Stressing that the United Nations Security Council should also convene without wasting any time and launch initiatives to lift the embargoes imposed on Palestinian people, Tanryverdi went on:
''Besides the United States and the EU, countries such as Russia, the People's Republic of China and Japan should also expand efforts to find a solution to the dispute since recent developments have began threatening peace not only in the region but in the world. We believe that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has an important mission to this end. We call on him to take necessary steps on behalf of the international community.''
Tanriverdi told reporters, ''Palestinian people have already been living under extremely difficult conditions due to embargoes and shortage of food. Recent operations have further deteriorated their living standards. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) should ship urgent humanitarian aid to Palestine.''
''We believe that the Palestinian government should adopt a realistic political attitude instead of isolating itself from the rest of the world. On the other hand, detention of elected MPs and ministers by another country is contrary to all international agreements and it is totally inadmissible,'' he added.