INTERVIEW: Turkey: Israel should recognize Palestine

Feb 23, 2009, 23:44 GMT

Ankara - Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu should recognize Palestine as a state if Israel genuinely wants lasting peace in the Middle East, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday night.

Keeping up his fierce criticism of Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, Erdogan said the only solution to the problem is for Hamas to be brought to the negotiating table.

'The answer is a two-state solution,' Erdogan said in a panel interview including Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa during a flight to Ankara, after local election campaigning in the south-eastern city of Mardin.

'Hamas has to recognize Israel, but at the same time Israel has to recognize Palestine. Does Israel recognize Palestine? They still don't, but at the same time they expect Palestine to recognize Israel. Ask Netanyahu, will he accept this?'

Erdogan repeated his accusation that Israel's actions in Gaza were a 'crime against humanity' and again accused Israel of using overwhelming force in the operations.

The prime minister said that Turkey had argued that Hamas should have been given a chance as soon as the Islamist militant group had won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.

'The party of change and reform won the elections. We have to support them. We have to give them a chance,' Erdogan said.