Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to apologize for not responding to Ankara's invitation to speak in the republic's parliament alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress on July 24, reported TRT Haber.
„I regret that Mr. Abbas did not speak in parliament, although we invited him. He should also apologize to us. We are waiting to see if he can come [to Turkey]”, Erdogan said.
It was previously reported that Turkey had invited Abbas to speak at the Majlis, but the Palestinian Authority did not respond to the offer. This caused a negative reaction in Ankara.
On July 24, Netanyahu spoke to a joint session of the US Senate and House of Representatives, where he said he would end the military operation in the Gaza Strip when the Palestinian Hamas movement drops weapons and releases the hostages. The head of the Cabinet of Ministers called for the creation of a security alliance in the Middle East "to counter the growing Iranian threat" by analogy with NATO.