29-03-2024 04:50 PM Jerusalem Timing

Turkish PM Says ’Israeli Provocations Fuels Radicals’

Turkish PM Says ’Israeli Provocations Fuels Radicals’

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused his Zionist counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday of terrorism.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet DavutogluTurkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused his Zionist counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday of terrorism and said the Zionist "provocations" such as the bombardment of Gaza were contributing to radicalization in the Muslim world.

In a Reuters interview, Davutoglu said peace in the Middle East and the eradication of extremist groups would be virtually impossible without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

He also warned the international community against focusing solely on fighting the militants of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) terrorist group in its efforts to end the conflict in Syria, saying the "brutality" of President Bashar al-Assad was the root cause of the problem.

Turkey, an EU candidate nation and member of the NATO military alliance, is a key Western ally in the alleged fight against militants operating in Iraq. But its leaders have reportedly claimed being concerned about the rising Islamophobia in Europe.

"(Netanyahu) himself killed, his army killed children in the playground. They killed our citizens and an American citizen in international waters. This is terrorism," Davutoglu said, referring to a 2010 Zionist assault on a Turkish boat attempting to break the occupation blockade of the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

"Nobody can argue about Israeli aggression in Jerusalem in the al-Aqsa mosque," he added. "These provocations create frustration in the Muslim world and are becoming one of the reasons why these radical trends are emerging," he said.

"If we want to establish peace and order in the Middle East, eliminating all the extremist forces, we have to solve the Palestinian question."

Davutoglu on Thursday compared Netanyahu to the militants who killed 17 people in Paris last week, saying both had committed crimes against humanity.

Netanyahu has called for an international condemnation of Davutoglu's remarks and those of President Tayyip Erdogan, after he criticized the Zionist prime minister's attendance with other world leaders at a solidarity march in Paris.

Once-good relations between the occupation entity and Turkey have declined markedly over the past five years, with U.S.-efforts to revive the soured ties failing to make headway. There was no immediate reaction in the Zionist entity to Davutoglu's latest comments.