ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, "Turkey and Qatar contribute to the negotiation process led by Egypt" on the truce process between Palestine and Israel, and added he wished a result would come out on Wednesday.
Answering the questions of press before leaving for Pakistan, Erdogan said that they started negotiations during his visit in Egypt and wanted Egypt to lead the process. He said some of his delegation were still in Egypt - including National Intelligence Undersecretary and Deputy Chairman of ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party - monitoring the developments closely.
Reminding the talks of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Gaza, Erdogan said that parties assessed drafts of a truce and added or deleted some articles. He said "Hamas approved the latest draft on Tuesday and but Israel has not given an answer yet. Meanwhile Israel continues to attack Gaza, even two journalists were killed in an attack while our friends were leaving Gaza".
D-8 should be more effective
Answering the questions of press before leaving for Pakistan, Erdogan said that they would work on improving relations and cooperation among the D-8 countries at the summit.
Reminding the objectives of D-8 were to improve developing countries' positions in the world economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at the international level, and provide better standards of living, Erdogan said that D-8 secretariat should be strengthened in order to make decision-making mechanism more effective.
Erdogan said he would hold talks with his counterparts on the violence in Syria, Gaza and Iraq during the summit.
The summit will be held on November 22 with the theme of "Democratic partnership for peace and prosperity".
Established in 1996 over the call of Turkey, D-8 (Developing Eight) is an arrangement for development cooperation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. Ten sectors have been identified for cooperation and project development. They are: trade; industry; telecommunications and information; finance, banking and privatization; rural development; science and technology; poverty alleviation and human resources development; agriculture; energy; environment; and health. On the basis of a division of labour for the coordination of D-8 activities, each sector is assigned to a member country.
Turkey to give necessary reply to NATO
Erdogan said Turkey would give necessary reply to NATO in regard to demand for Patriot missiles from NATO.
Replying to a question whether Turkey would demand Patriot missiles from NATO, Erdogan said, "Assessments on the matter are about to conclude. Necessary reply will be given to NATO. We will take steps. The region under threat on Turkish territory is also territory of NATO."
Asked what kind of steps Turkey would take if a truce was not reached in Gaza, Erdogan said that Turkey had taken steps on the matter so far and it would continue to do so.
Replying to a question on Iraq, Erdogan said that Turkey had always had concerns over possibility of a civil war and over a sectarian conflict in Iraq. Erdogan said their fears and concerns had started to come true.
