The “terrorist” label
Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization and has reacted angrily to previous contacts between Turkish officials and the militant group.
But in a tirade following the deadly flotilla attack, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the “terrorist” label for Hamas and defended the group as “resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land.”
Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government insists that peace cannot be achieved in the Middle East if Hamas is excluded from the process.
It has also urged the armed group, which has called for the destruction of Israel, to renounce violence and engage in peaceful politics.
The ill-fated aid flotilla, spearheaded by a Turkish Islamist charity, had aimed to break the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Palestinian enclave and deliver tons of humanitarian supplies to its people.
Israel eased the blockade — originally imposed in a bid to pressure Hamas to end rocket attacks on southern Israel — following international pressure in the wake of the raid.
In February 2006, Ankara angered Israel when it hosted a delegation led by Meshaal following Hamas’s victory in Palestinian elections.
A Turkish team led by Davutoglu in January 2009 acted as a mediator between Hamas leaders based in Syria and Egyptian officials seeking to hammer out a ceasefire deal to end Israel’s devastating 22-day war on Gaza.
Source: Al Arabiya
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