18 May 2018•Update: 19 May 2018
By Cigdem Alyanak
ISTANBUL
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday called for stronger international reaction against Israeli violence in Gaza during a phone call with UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Sources at the Turkish Presidency confirmed Erdogan discussed Palestine and Syria with Guterres.
During the phone call, Erdogan emphasized that the international community should show a stronger reaction against Israeli violence that left at least 100 Palestinians martyred since the mass Gaza rallies began on March 30.
Also, Erdogan and Guterres described the UN Human Rights Council's decision to form an independent commission to probe Gaza violence as a "positive development".
He emphasized Turkey will be following the issue at UN General Council.
Erdogan also shared information on the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Friday.
Guterres, for his part, thanked Turkey over its efforts in Geneva and Astana to achieve a political solution to the Syria crisis.
The UN Human Rights Council on Friday decided to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations and abuses which may amount to war crimes in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The probe will be carried out in the context of Israeli military assaults on large-scale civilian Palestinian protests that began on March 30.
