(9. Juni) The joint presidential candidate of Turkey’s two main opposition parties, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu declared that “Turkey should be a negotiator” and “should not take sides in the conflicts of the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, during his first television interview aired on CNNTurk on 3 July.

The former head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) proclaimed that Turkey is one of the first countries to recognise Israel and that maintaining those relations has allowed the country to assume the role of a negotiator in the region.