Turkey’s CHP supports Palestine based on 1967 borders

By Turgut Alp Boyraz

JERUSALEM

The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party has voiced his support for establishing a Palestinian state in line with the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, according to Palestinian News Agency Wafa, sent a letter on Thursday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas marking the centennial of the Balfour Declaration, which paved the way for Israel’s establishment in 1948.

"We welcome all efforts based on the two-state solution to create an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital," the agency quoted Kilicdaroglu as saying.

This would be “the only viable and lasting solution” to end the decades-long suffering of the Palestinian people, he said, calling this “the international community’s historical responsibility to the Palestinian people.”

Stating that Palestinian unity would be further strengthened by peaceful and constructive steps, Kilicdaroglu said his party supports unity efforts between Fatah and Hamas for the future of Palestine.

He added: "We will do our utmost to help contribute to all possible initiatives to put the dying peace process back on track."

The 1917 Balfour Declaration -- written by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild, a prominent British Jew and supporter of the Zionist movement -- set out the U.K.’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

On Thursday, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets across the Israeli-occupied West Bank to mark the passage of 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, which laid the groundwork for Israel's establishment -- and their displacement -- in 1948.

Reporting by Turgut Alp Poyraz; Writing by Nilay Kar