Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday for talks focused on Gaza, Palestinian statehood and regional security.
Speaking at a joint news conference after closed-door talks in Ankara, Erdoğan said supporting the Palestinian national cause was a “shared responsibility of all humanity, particularly the Muslim world.”
He also accused Israel’s hard-line government of committing “genocide” in Gaza, adding that Türkiye would continue “defending the Palestinian cause on every platform.”
Erdoğan further accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of undermining prospects for a sovereign Palestinian state through its policies in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Israel rejects claims that its conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide, saying its military operations there are directed against Hamas and other militant groups.
In June, an independent UN inquiry said Israeli actions in Gaza amounted to genocide – a finding rejected by Israeli officials.
Speaking alongside Abbas, Erdoğan also repeated Türkiye’s objection to Israeli actions at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, warning against what he described as unilateral attempts to alter the longstanding status quo governing the holy site.
Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the compound is sacred to both Muslims and Jews and has often been a flashpoint in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Tensions erupted again last month when Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited the site and encouraged religious Jews to worship there.
Under longstanding arrangements, Muslims are permitted to pray at the compound while non-Muslims are only permitted to visit.
Erdoğan also reiterated Ankara’s support for an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbas, for his part, welcomed a landmark joint defence pact signed last week by Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, saying the agreement could be a “starting point for ensuring security in the region” and protecting Muslim countries’ interests.
The agreement commits the three member countries to regard an attack against one as an attack on all.
Officials have described the tripartite agreement as “defensive in nature,” insisting it is not directed against any particular country.
Signed amid unprecedented regional tensions, the agreement leaves open the possibility of other countries eventually joining, with the aim of creating what some officials have called a “new regional security architecture.”
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