Turkish President Meets Hamas Leader in Istanbul
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met the leader of the Hamas resistance movement, Khaled Meshaal in Istanbul, sources said on Saturday.
Erdogan and Meshaal discussed how to resolve the disagreements among Palestinians as well as the delivery of Turkish humanitarian assistance, a source from the Turkish Presidency said on Saturday.
The Turkish leader emphasized during the meeting that Turkey was keen on easing the distress among Palestinians, the source, who was not named due to restrictions on speaking with the media, told Anadolu Agency.
In April of 2014, rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah signed a long-awaited reconciliation agreement that called for the formation of a Palestinian unity government tasked with overseeing Palestinian legislative and presidential elections.
Although the unity government was unveiled two months later, it has yet to take on a governing role in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, while the relationship between the two factions remains beset by a host of longstanding differences.
Representatives of the two rival groups held a series of meetings in Doha in an effort to discuss means of implementing the agreement, but no breakthrough was made.
