ANKARA - Killing of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin was a bomb which was thrown against peace process in the Middle East, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told to private TGRT tv channel late on Monday.
Erdogan said that the killing destroyed hopes for peace and escalated feeling of revenge.
When the anchorman asked, ''Turkey's geopolitical location is very important. What the Greater Middle East Initiative will bring? There are issues including killing of Hamas leader, Iraq, European Union (EU), Georgia-Adzharia and Cyprus issue. A powerful government in Turkey in such an atmosphere is a very big chance for the region and Turkey. But who has the initiative?'' Erdogan said that they saw that those issues had connections when they were taken into consideration as a whole.
Stating that Turkey would not play a walk-on part in the Greater Middle East Initiative, but a leading role, Erdogan said, ''if it provides a democratic opening and the supremacy of law, records progress on human rights and provides participation of whole region, Turkey can be there as an actor. But, these things should be seen concretely.''
In regard to killing of Yassin, Erdogan said, ''I think that the incident which took place in Palestine is a bomb which was thrown against peace process in the Middle East. It has been very wrong to approach this issue in such a way. If a peace process is to function, such a way does not work. Those bombs overshadowed peace and destroyed hopes for peace. It escalated feelings of revenge.''
Replying to a question, Erdogan said that he did not consider right accusing also Israeli people of this incident.
''When the world talks about globalization of peace, it is wrong to say they deserved it if others became victims of terrorist actions. How will we get rid of this vicious circle of violence? Because, Turkey is one of the countries which suffer from terrorism. Haven't we lost our 40 thousand people? Doesn't such a process continue in Palestine currently? There are terrorist actions everyday. Can we say that one of the sides resort to acts of terrorism and the other side does not? Those actions should be stopped mutually,'' he added.
(EÖ-AÖ) 23.03.2004