Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has headed to Washington to attend NATO Leaders' summit in the US capital on July 9-11.
"During NATO leaders summit, we will raise massacres of the Palestinian people in Gaza, where our shared values are going through sincerity test," said Erdogan during a press conference on Tuesday ahead of his departure for Washington.
"We will emphasise that the international community has failed to stop Israel and that the global conscience will not be able to breathe a sigh of relief until a just and lasting peace is established in Palestine," said Erdogan, adding that he will also discuss Ankara's assessments during bilateral meetings with the leaders of the allied countries.
Erdogan added: "We patiently follow the process (Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha). Our intelligence chief and foreign minister follow it. Hopefully, we'll get the expected results soon."
Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency, and CIA Director William Burns arrived in Egypt on Monday for talks on a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Israeli media also reported that the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, will travel to Qatar on Wednesday to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, CIA director Burns, and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
For months, efforts by the US, Qatar, and Egypt to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a hostage exchange and ceasefire have been hampered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of Hamas' call to halt hostilities.
NATO's defence structure
Erdogan said they will hold consultations at the summit to boost NATO's deterrence and defence structure and to strengthen the capabilities and capabilities of the allies. "Our summit has a special meaning as it falls on the 75th anniversary of NATO's establishment."
"We will follow up on the decisions we took in Vilnius last year. On this occasion, with the participation of representatives of the European Union in a session, we will meet with NATO partners in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and New Zealand at the leaders' level."
Noting that the last session of the summit will be held in the format of the NATO-Ukraine Council, Erdogan said: "Our expectation from the summit is to achieve results that take into account the national security sensitivities of the allies and strengthen the alliance solidarity and the spirit of unity.
"The implementation of the decisions we took in Vilnius on the fight against terrorism and the removal of barriers to defence industry trade between the allies is important in this respect. In our meetings, we will draw attention to the increasing terrorist threat in the world, especially in our immediate neighbourhood. We will also underline the need to increase NATO's efforts for a decisive and holistic fight against terrorist organisations."
He added: "Türkiye's commitment to and support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence is well known. While designing the steps to be taken to support Ukraine, we also maintain our principled stance that NATO should not be made a party to the war. We have stated from day one that a just peace will have no losers.''
"To this end, we have shouldered responsibility from the very beginning, starting with the Istanbul process, to first secure a ceasefire and then to pave the way to a lasting peace. Every day of gunfire, bloodshed, and loss of life shows that we are on the right track."
Organisation of Turkic States
On the participation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the Informal Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States held in Azerbaijan's Shusha on July 6, Erdogan said: "TRNC is already a full member of the Organisation of Turkic States in our eyes. In this regard, their approach (members of the Organisation of Turkic States), especially Azerbaijan, has almost reached the same position with us. As it is known, the TRNC was present at the last Shusha Summit."
"We are endeavoring how we can bring the TRNC to the point of full membership," he said, and underlined that Ankara was developing this with the Turkic states.
Regarding outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's election as the NATO secretary-general, Erdogan said: "Of course, we will also have meetings with Rutte in America. He told me that he would visit Türkiye before taking office. I believe that we will carry out our steps in the same way with Rutte, just as we carried out the process in a very sincere atmosphere with Stoltenberg."
Mark Rutte was elected NATO secretary-general on June 26. Rutte will take over as the NATO chief on October 1, when current NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's term expires after 10 years.
Regarding fight against terrorism and the support Ankara receives from the alliance, Erdogan said: "Are we in the position we want with NATO at this point? I am telling you frankly and sincerely, we are currently endeavouring to overcome these problems."
"Particularly with NATO, we have not yet got what we want and expect on the Israel-Palestine issue. I hope that we will bring these issues up again during our meetings in the US and get the results we expect," he added.
Erdogan is visiting Washington for a meeting of the heads of state and government of the 32 members of NATO, their partner countries, and the EU. The alliance marks its 75th anniversary this year.
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