Erdogan: The fate of Istanbul is not different from that of Gaza

Erdogan: The fate of Istanbul is not different from that of Gaza

Turkish premier Recep Erdogan said Sunday that his speech at the recent Arab summit held in Libya focused on the common fate of the Arab and Turkish cities, the thing which makes the destiny of Istanbul not different from that of the Gaza Strip.

During his participation in the conference of businessmen and industrialists held in Istanbul, Erdogan added that Turkey is working on eliminating the hotbeds of tension and its causes in the region and seeking to achieve rapprochement with the Arab and Islamic capitals around it.

He stressed that the countries which are located thousands of miles away want Turkey to turn its back on its neighbors in the region, adding that these countries have embarked on establishing unreal tensions to separate Turkey from its surrounding, but Turkey has started to remove these tensions and meaningless distances.

The premier also underlined the importance of eliminating the hatred which some distant countries tried to sow in the Arab-Turkish relations and of terminating the use of travel passports between Turkey and Arab states.