Breaking News – Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says that Hamas is not a terror organization.

Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said in a speech to thousands of people in the Turkish city of Konya during a rally that he “does not see Hamas as a terror organization”.

How Israel, the United States and other European countries will react to this speech is unknown but it is sure to further deteriorate relations between Israel and Turkey.

Tensions had been in almost breaking point after an Aid Flotilla lead by the Turkish ship Blue Marmara was raided by Commandos belonging to the Israeli Defense Forces in which nine demonstrators were killed.

The Turkish Prime Minister who cut short his trip in Latin America to return to Turkey to deal with the issue condemned Israel’s actions and described it as a “bloody massacre”.

Israel, Japan, Canada, the United States and the governments of the European Union, identify Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The speech by the Turkish Prime Minister comes a day after eight of the dead from the Flotilla raid, all of Turkish origin were buried.

The coffins which were covered with Palestinian and Turkish flags were carried above shoulders with thousands of protesters chanting anti Israeli slogans in the victims cities of residents in Turkey.

Update – The Prime Minister also criticized the newspaper and news website columnists which compared the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), which is listed as a terror organization in many countries around the world, with Hamas.

To be updated…

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