Davutoğlu Says Turkey Hopeful For Palestinian Unity After Hamas-Fatah Talks

20.01.2013 18:49

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said recent negotiations between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have boosted Turkey's hopes for a unity deal, for which he said Turkey is exerting its utmost efforts."We are hopeful on that issue."

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said recent negotiations between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have boosted Turkey's hopes for a unity deal, for which he said Turkey is exerting its utmost efforts.



"We are hopeful on that issue. Our hopes have been boosted in the past few days. We will see more positive results in the coming days," Davutoğlu was "ed as saying by the state-run Anatolia news agency on Saturday.



Davutoğlu recalled that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held separate phone conversations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal last week to receive information on the Palestinian unity talks. Stating that Turkey has "actively" contributed to every negotiation process between the two factions, Davutoğlu said Turkey is exerting its utmost effort to ensure Palestinian unity.



Abbas and Mashaal met face-to-face for the first time in over a year to discuss how to implement their 2011 deal last week in Cairo.



The rivals fell out badly when Hamas seized control of Gaza from Fatah by force in 2007. But they have drawn closer since Israel's assault on Gaza in November, in which Hamas claimed victory, and a diplomatic win by Abbas the same month in which the United Nations voted to recognize Palestine as a "non-member state."



The two sides have signally failed to put into practice the deal they signed in Cairo in May 2011 to reunify the leadership of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. (Cihan/Today's Zaman)