QA:23, 22 June 2010, Statement of the Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey in Response to a Question

Turkey believes that the inhumane blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel poses a threat to regional peace and stability and thus it has to be totally lifted.

In this respect, it would be a positive, yet an insufficient step to ease the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and to permit entry of the goods needed by the Palestinian people.

The measures to be taken must ensure the improvement of the living conditions of the people in a substantive manner and should constitute a step towards lifting the blockade. In this context, construction materials needed for the reconstruction of Gaza as well as the basic items such as medicine, food and consumption goods have to be allowed in without any artificial restrictions.

In order to alleviate the plight of the people in the region, facilitation of transfer of humanitarian aid both by sea and by land into the Gaza Strip is essential.

Turkey will continue to closely monitor the developments in this regard and to carry on with its determined efforts to help normalize the humanitarian and economic conditions of the people in the Gaza Strip.