ISTANBUL, April 17. /TASS/. The radical Palestinian Hamas movement has expressed gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the support that he reiterated in parliament on Wednesday, the TRT Haber TV channel reported.
"We express our deep gratitude and pride to President Erdogan for his courageous support for Hamas. His brave words and noble stance embody the historic and genuine position of the brotherly Turkish people and support for our struggle to liberate our land, return there and establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital," the channel cited excerpts from the Hamas statement.
During his recent address to the parliament, Erdogan reiterated that he did not consider Hamas a terrorist organization. "Hamas is not a terrorist organization in any way, it is a resistance organization. Hamas is what the Kuvayi Milliye national forces were to Turkey during the war of independence. I fully understand the price of these words, but let the whole world also hear it," Erdogan said.
The Kuvayi Milliye were irregular volunteer militias created in 1918 after the occupation of Turkey by allied forces on the basis of the Armistice of Mudros, which marked the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the World War I. The militia played an important role in Turkey's national liberation war.
Erdogan also announced talks with Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh in Turkey on April 20.