ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that a new stage had been reached for solution of Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Addressing the gathering of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) at the parliament, Erdogan said that they were going through a period in which optimistic expectations (for a solution in the Middle East) had increased.
Erdogan said, ''our style, position and message regarding all international problems we are a side to is open and clear. We think that just solutions can be found to all international problems, regardless of how complicated they are. We don't have the luxury to be indifferent to the fires beside us.''
Noting that they were ready to heal the wounds and put out the fire wherever they occurred, Erdogan said that their priority in the region Turkey was situated and in the entire world would be assuring peace.
-GUL'S MEETINGS IN MIDDLE EAST-
Recalling that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had gone on a tour to the Middle East to meet Palestinian and Israeli authorities, Erdogan said that Turkey could have the opportunity to more clearly see what it could do for Middle Eastern peace process, thanks to this visit.
Erdogan said, ''I hope all parties are closer today than yesterday to take mutual good-willed steps and to end the painful tableaus in the region.''
-ELECTIONS IN PALESTINE AND IRAQ-
Erdogan said that Turkey could make significant contributions to bringing Israel and Palestine closer to a meet each other with an aim to assure peace, thanks to its good relations with both of the parties.
''As the government, we think it is our duty to make direct contribution to this peace process. Before the Palestinian presidential elections due on January 9th, all countries, whether they are near or far away from the region, should exert efforts to strengthen the peace ground in the region. Turkey won't withhold its financial and moral contributions to the efforts to hold the elections under best circumstances. I believe that this important elections will be held in a transparent, democratic and successful way, and will provide the region with new opportunities for settlement of peace,'' Erdogan said.
Erdogan went on saying, ''similarly, we hope that elections will be held in Iraq without losing any time, and that problems of Iraqi people will end as soon as possible. We are ready to fulfil our responsibilities for settlement of peace and tranquility in Iraq. We want a comprehensive peace process in the region.''
''As we have done in former international arenas and every regional meeting, our Foreign Minister (Abdullah Gul) will openly express our national expectations during his tour to Palestine, Israel and Jordan. You should be sure that Turkey's importance and influence in the region is being understood better each passing day. Turkey has reached the position of filling the big vacuum. The importance of our approach for settlement of lasting peace in the region will clearly be seen soon,'' Erdogan added.
-EARTHQUAKE IN SOUTH ASIA-
Touching on the massive earthquake and tsunami waves that hit South Asia on December 26th, 2004, Erdogan said that Turkey also felt the agonies of earthquakes.
Noting that Turkey had extended 1.2 billion U.S. dollars of monetary assistance to the quake zone as a first step, Erdogan said that his party collected 50 billion Turkish liras (TL) (equal to 50,000 New Turkish Lira- YTL) for South Asian quake and tsunami survivors.
(BRC-A֩
2005-01-04