Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh is received in Istanbul on Saturday by one of his most fervent supporters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hopes to impose his mediation between Israel and the Palestinian movement. According to Turkish media, the meeting began shortly after 2:30 p.m. (11:30 GMT) at Dolmabahce Palace on the Bosphorus, but no images were broadcast. According to the presidential services, no press conference by the two leaders is also planned at the end of the meeting, the first since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on October 7.
President Erdogan confirmed this first tête-à-tête since July 2023 on Friday, while remaining extremely discreet about its purpose:
“Let's keep the agenda for us and Mr. Haniyeh
,” he told journalists. Hamas, for its part, simply indicated on Friday evening that the war in the Gaza Strip would be on the agenda of the talks.
The Hamas leader arrived Friday evening at the head of a delegation from his movement in Istanbul, one of his places of residence since 2011, but where he has only visited officially once, in January, since October. He then met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, with whom he spoke at length on Wednesday in Doha.
During his visit to Doha, the minister specified on Wednesday, the representatives of Hamas
“repeated to him that they accept the creation of a Palestinian state within the borders of 1967”
therefore, implicitly the existence of the State of Israel,
“and to renounce armed struggle after the creation of the Palestinian State”
.
“No more need for armed branch”
“Hamas will then no longer need to have an armed branch and will continue to exist as a political party
,” detailed the minister, who said he was
“happy to receive such a message
. ”
The Turkish minister also said he had echoed with his interlocutors the
“concerns of Westerners”
for whom Hamas is a terrorist movement
“which they compare to Daesh”
, the Arabic acronym designating the Islamic State group.
Turkey, which wants to be the spearhead of support for the Palestinian cause, provides solid and constant support to Hamas leaders, but it has found itself excluded from mediation between Israel and the Palestinian movement. This visit by Ismaïl Haniyeh comes at a time when Qatar, which assumes a pivotal role in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, has said it wants
to “reassess”
its role and while negotiations to secure a truce and the release of Israeli hostages are stalling. . Qatari negotiators were particularly offended by Israeli criticism and that of certain American Democrats. Turkey could therefore take advantage of this to try to resume mediation.
The head of Turkish diplomacy also received his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Choukri, on Saturday: both insisted to the press on the means of delivering humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza, emphasizing the
“seriousness”
of the situation in the Palestinian territory.
“Recent events (between Israel and Iran, editor’s note) have diverted the attention of the international community from the tragic conditions in Gaza
,” lamented Sameh Choukri. Hakan Fidan said for his part that
“other countries should not say that (the situation) only concerns the Middle East. Everything about Palestine affects global fault lines
.