ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey would continue to support the rightful case of Palestinian people to live as an independent and sovereign state.
Erdogan met with Palestinian Business Council delegation led by Mohammad Mesruca.
Stressing the importance of peace between Israel and Palestine, Erdogan said Turkey wished peace process to enliven, and noted that, ''we also want every kind of efforts and initiatives in this respect to include measures to stop serious economic and social difficulties of Palestinian people urgently.''
Erdogan said free trade agreement would be signed between Turkey and Palestine soon, stating that bilateral trade and economic relations would be accelerated with the agreement.
Erdogan said Turkey supported all the efforts exerted for formation of Palestinian institutions, adding that a well known Turkish Constitution Professor prepared Palestinian Constitution draft and that this was presented to Palestinian authorities.
Mentioning the importance of economic relations, Erdogan said he would pay a visit to the region after Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's scheduled visit to the region to contribute to peace process.
Palestinian Business Council Chairman Mesruca in his part said Palestinian people were grateful to Turkey.
Mesruca said 550 Palestinian children were killed since 2000 noting that some others were still in prisons in Israel. He said the wall built by Israel was a devastation for Palestinians as it closed all ways of trade and living.
(AY) 07.06.2004