Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas engaged in key discussions with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Parliamentary Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş on Thursday, just before delivering a significant speech to the Turkish parliament.
President Mahmoud is considered a special guest of Parliament, which had resumed after a summer recess to accommodate the occasion.
The speech is to be translated into English, French and Turkish simultaneously, for everyone’s convenience. President Mahmoud’s address to the Parliament was focused mainly on Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and is also being perceived as a response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial address to the U.S Congress.
in his address, President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated that Gaza strip and Jerusalem are part of the Palestinian State.
A month ago, Erdogan stated that President Mahmoud was invited for the address but did not respond to the invite. The Invitation was later confirmed by Palestinian officials and they disclosed that it had to be rescheduled due to the health concerns for the 88 – year old leader. Initially, the plan was to invite Hamas political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, before the leader was tragically assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
Since the building in which the speech is scheduled has been previously attacked by military infiltrators of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in 2016, security measures were increased as a precaution.
Aerial defense systems were activated in the building before President Mahmoud’s speech.Following his address, Abbas was scheduled to attend a special photo exhibition on Palestine and Ismail Haniyeh, which was organized within the Parliament to mark the occasion.President Mahmoud’s visit is the third time he has addressed the Turkish Parliament.
Although, this particular speech holds more significance as it highlights Türkiye’s strong stance on the Palestinian issue. Ankara is focusing more on putting international pressure on Israel to halt its Gaza operations and to move towards a sustainable and long – term resolution to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.