Middle East News
Palestinian leader Abbas arrives in Ankara for Mideast talks
Feb 6, 2009, 18:20 GMT
Ankara - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Ankara Friday evening for talks with Turkish leaders who are expected to push him to support some kind of reconciliation between his Fatah movement and Hamas.
Abbas is scheduled to hold meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday night and with President Abdullah Gul on Saturday before leaving Ankara on Sunday.
Turkey played an active diplomatic role during Israel's recent military operations in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with government negotiators conducting a number of meetings with exiled Hamas leaders in Damascus.
On Friday CNN-Turk reported that a new delegation was in Damascus in an attempt to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was taken hostage by Hamas militants in June 2006.
After Turkey was criticized for its supposedly pro-Hamas line during the Israeli military operations, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan last week called on Hamas to make a decision as to whether it is an armed group or a political movement.
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