Erdogan rejects US demand to distance himself from Hamas
During a visit to Turkey this week, Brian Nelson, the Secretary of State responsible for the fight against terrorist financing at the US Treasury Department, expressed Washington's "deep" concern about Ankara's previous relations with Hamas.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas eight weeks ago, no money flows to Hamas via Turkey have been identified. In the past, however, Ankara had helped the Palestinian organization with access to funds. Nelson called on Turkey to legally prevent possible future money transfers.
Erdogan forbade the USA from interfering. "We shape our foreign policy in Ankara and only base it on the interests of Turkey and the expectations of our people," explained the Turkish president. He was convinced "that our interlocutors appreciate Turkey's consistent and balanced foreign policy steps in such humanitarian crises and conflicts".
Erdogan had recently caused outrage on several occasions with his statements on the Middle East war. For example, he described Israel as a "war criminal" and "terrorist state" due to its military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He branded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the "butcher of Gaza". In contrast, Erdogan called the radical Islamic Palestinian organization, which committed atrocities mainly against civilians and killed around 1,200 people during its attack on Israel on 7 October, a "liberation group".
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Source: www.stern.de
