Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday proposed annexing the Gaza Strip to Turkey, with Gaza becoming an autonomous region in Turkey.
Davutoglu’s proposal came following US President Donald Trump’s statements about controlling the Gaza Strip and displacing its residents to other countries – a proposal met with widespread Arab and international rejection.
During a speech he delivered at the parliamentary bloc meeting of the New Path group, Davutoglu made bold statements on connecting the Gaza Strip to Turkey as an autonomous region.
In response to Trump’s plan to control Gaza, Davutoglu said that the people of Gaza should hold a referendum and join Turkey.
“Now, as a Turk from the Ottoman subjects, I say this: the last legitimate state of the Gazans was the Ottoman Empire.”
“Do they think that we won’t stand by the Gazans, who have never had legitimate citizenship outside the Ottoman Empire and fought alongside our grandfathers, just because the US comes to seize Gaza?”
“Let the Gazans hold a referendum and, until the Palestinian state is established, let them be connected to Türkiye as an autonomous region,” the Turkish lawmaker said.
