Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria by phone where the two leaders exchanged Eid el-Fitr greeting.
According to the Twitter handle of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, the two leaders also discussed bilateral relations and regional developments.
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“Drawing attention to Turkey’s efforts exerted in order for the international community to teach the necessary lesson to unlawful, unjust and unscrupulous Israel due to its attacks against Palestine, President Erdoğan voiced his belief that Nigeria would show solidarity with the Palestinians in this rightful cause,” it said
The phone call was made on Thursday by the statement was posted on Friday.
The Nigerian government did not comment on the phone call.
President Erdogan had earlier in a phone call told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the international community should “give Israel a strong and deterrent lesson” over its conduct towards the Palestinians.
He also stressed the need for the UN Security Council to rapidly intervene with “determined and clear messages” to Israel.
The statement said Erdogan suggested to Putin that an international protection force to shield the Palestinians should be considered.
Erdogan had late last year expressed a desire to see relations between Turkey and Israel improve, after years of disagreement over Tel Aviv’s occupation of the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians.
Turkey, which in 1949 became the first Muslim-majority country to recognise Israel, first broke off ties with Israel in 2010.
That was after 10 pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos who boarded a Turkish-owned ship, the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla trying to deliver aid and break Israel’s year-long maritime blockade on Gaza.
The Israeli blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip has been in place since June 2007, when Israel imposed an airtight land, sea and air blockade on the area.
They restored ties in 2016, but relations soured again in 2018.
In May that year, Ankara withdrew its envoy over deadly attacks against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip who were protesting against US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have often exchanged angry remarks, but both countries continue to trade with one another.
