President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met on Monday with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate said.
The meeting came on the sidelines of the Extraordinary Joint Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the statement said.
The bilateral relations between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, regional and global issues were discussed during the meeting, it added.
Furthermore it said that President Erdoğan underlined the key role of unity, solidarity among Muslim nations in stopping Israeli attacks on Palestine and Lebanon.
Erdoğan “underscored the significance of the decisions and actions to be taken by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to halt Israeli aggression,” the directorate said.
An extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit kicked off in the Saudi capital on Monday to discuss Israel’s ongoing wars in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Erdoğan warned in his speech at summit earlier during the day that Israel aims to destroy Palestinian existence and ultimately annex all Palestinian territories with its brutal attacks.
The Turkish president lashed out at a “handful of Western nations supplying Israel with every form of support, from political to economic, military to moral support, while the failure of Muslim countries to respond adequately has allowed the situation to reach this point.”
Erdoğan said Türkiye has so far sent over 84,000 tons of aid to Gaza, and is ready to send much more when restrictions are lifted.
Israel cannot even tolerate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and has been keeping aid supplies waiting in Egypt for months, he further said.
“It’s vital that Israel is isolated in the international arena until its aggression ends,” Erdoğan said.
Ankara cut off trade with Israel in May and joined a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), launched by South Africa, over its war crimes in Gaza.
Erdoğan urged fellow Muslim states to follow suit and said Türkiye is “ready to implement all tangible actions that will make the Netanyahu government feel the cost of occupying Palestinian lands.”
“We should encourage as many countries as possible to join South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice,” he underlined.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.
The Israeli onslaught has killed 43,550 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 102,700 others, displacing almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Following the contacts in Saudi Arabia, Erdoğan departed for Azerbaijan to attend COP29 climate conference, an Anadolu Agency (AA) report said.