Turkey's Erdogan, Palestine’s Abbas talk over phone

By Aynur Ekiz

ANKARA (AA) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas over the phone on Tuesday, presidential sources said.

Erdogan and Abbas talked about the recent developments about Palestine; the Turkish president also wished Abbas “get well soon”.

Abbas was hospitalized in Ramallah for medical tests on Sunday.

The Turkish president informed Abbas about the recently-concluded extraordinary summit of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its final declaration, which was held in Istanbul on May 18.

Both leaders termed the summit in Istanbul as an important development that reflected the Islamic countries' common resolve.

They expressed the resolve to take up Israeli violations at the UN following the U.S. move to relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and killing of unarmed Palestinians by Israeli gunfire in Gaza.

Abbas told Erdogan Palestinians remain thankful to him and Turkey for supporting Palestine.

The summit on Friday was held to discuss the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

Criticizing Washington, Erdogan said the responsibility for the consequences of "this provocative decision to sabotage the peace process entirely belongs to the U.S."

"We won't accept the unlawful decision of the U.S. to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite all warnings," Erdogan said in a news conference on May 19. "We will never end our solidarity with the Palestinian people."

Erdogan also urged the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council, to fulfill their legal obligations with regards to Palestine.

The OIC has reaffirmed full solidarity with Palestine and Istanbul communique condemned in strongest terms criminal actions of Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians.

The Istanbul summit was convened by Erdogan to denounce the Israeli violence during mass rallies Monday along Gaza's eastern border.

On Monday, at least 62 Palestinian demonstrators were martyred -- the youngest just eight months old -- and thousands more injured by Israeli armed forces along the Gaza-Israel fence, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Thousands of Palestinians had gathered on the Gaza Strip’s eastern border to take part in protests marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel -- which Palestinians refer to as Nakba, Arabic for " the Catastrophe" -- and protest the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.