Europe

Home page

Europe

Turkish President Denies Claims of a Meeting with Israeli President

08 July 2010 01:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Turkish President Abdullah Gul denied claims about a meeting with Israeli president, APA reports quoting turkishny.com web-page.
Speaking to reporters prior to his departure for Nigeria on Wednesday, Gul denied the news stories claiming that he was in preparation to meet with Israeli president but the meeting did not take place.
Gul said that he did not have any information about such a thing, and there was not a planned meeting in the agenda.
Several news stories in Israeli press claimed that there was a preparation for a meeting between Turkish and Israeli presidents after Israeli raid in Mavi Marmara (a Gaza-bound aid ship), however, the meeting did not take place.
Israeli commandos raided the Gaza-bound Turkish ship "Mavi Marmara" on May 31, killing 8 Turks and an American citizen of Turkish origin. The attack strained the relations between Turkey and Israel to the point of breaking.
Turkish President Gul is travelling to Nigeria to attend D-8 summit.
D-8, also known as Developing-8, is an arrangement for development of cooperation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
The establishment of D-8 was announced officially through the Istanbul Declaration of Summit of Heads of State/Government on June 15, 1997. Its secretariat is based in Istanbul.
The objectives of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation are to improve member states’ position in the global economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision-making at international level, and improve standards of living.