Erdoğan, Davutoğlu to meet with Abbas on Saturday

Erdoğan,

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will be meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday as Palestinian envoys from all over the world gather in İstanbul for another round of annual conferences aimed at uniting the political voice in Palestine and assessing the country's foreign policy.

Erdoğan and Davutoğlu will be seeing Abbas in separate sessions on Saturday where the officials will discuss developments in the Middle East and bilateral relations between countries, as well as the situation in Palestine, diplomatic sources told Today's Zaman on Thursday. The ambassadorial conference is anticipated to kick off on Saturday with opening speeches by Abbas and Erdoğan, after which the two leaders will meet and discuss current issues, including the prospect of a consensus within Palestine and the UN vote in September where Palestine will attempt to be recognized as a sovereign state on the territory it had in 1967, before the Israeli occupation. Palestine's foreign mission chiefs and high-level executives of the Palestinian Foreign Ministry will be attending the two-day conference, initiated at the request of Palestine and hosted by Turkey's Foreign Ministry. Diplomatic sources said on Thursday that Turkey was hosting the conference “as a sign of its support for Palestine,” and that the country supported Palestine's efforts for international recognition. Turkey, along with Egypt, has been trying to contribute to the reconciliation of Palestine, but an agreement to unite the rivaling voices has yet to be reached.