Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasFlash 90

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

"Security and peace will be achieved with the end of the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine and its capital, East Jerusalem, which will live with all the peoples of the region in security, peace and good neighborliness. We will continue to unite our people and our country and will continue to work to unify our ranks in accordance with the political plans and international commitments of the PLO, the only legitimate representative of our Palestinian people,” stated Abbas.

He added, "We are on the eve of the blessed month of Ramadan and there is a danger of the situation exploding because of the Israeli measures, preventing worshipers from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque and the attack on the worshipers."

Abbas said that he discussed with Erdogan the "international efforts to stop the aggression and to obtain international protection for the Palestinian people and to move towards a diplomatic solution that will begin with achieving full membership in the United Nations by a decision of the Security Council and recognition of additional countries in Palestine."

The PA chairman also called for an international peace conference to implement a diplomatic solution and obtain international guarantees and a timetable for the implementation of the diplomatic settlement.

Abbas has repeatedly pushed for an international conference for peace in the Middle East, a move aimed at bypassing any US efforts to resume talks with Israel.

Israeli-PA peace talks have been stalled since 2014, when the PA unilaterally applied to join international organizations in breach of the conditions of the talks.