Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, center, meets with Rabbi Menachem Froman, left, and Sheik Ghassan Manasra in Ankara, Turkey
In last few days of his life, Sheikh Bukhari was planning a trip to Turkey with Rabbi Menachem Froman to meet with the Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister to present a plan for Mid-East peace. In the wake of the Gaza Flotilla incident, and Sheikh Bukhari’s death later that day, Rabbi Froman felt it important to proceed with the meeting, so we sent Sheikh Ghassan Manasra in his stead. Often the armies and governments tend to mess things up. This meeting shows that religious leaders and communities have an important role to play to re-build trust in our region.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received on Thursday june 3, 2010 Rabbi Menachem Froman and Sheikh Ghassan Manasra from Jerusalem Peacemakers initiative.
The 45-minute meeting was held at Erdogan’s residence in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
Rabbi Menachem Froman from Jerusalem Peacemakers initiative said that they presented a peace plan to Erdogan on Thursday.
Replying to questions from correspondents, Froman said they believed that Turkish Premier Erdogan could bring peace to the region.
Froman said they would also present the peace plan to Israeli government, Palestinian government, governments of Arab countries, European countries, Russia and the U.S. government.
Replying to a question, Froman said Erdogan was a great leader for settlement of peace.
Froman said he came to Turkey after Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and several ministers in Israel were waiting for the result of his visit to Turkey.
Sheikh Manasra quoted Prime Minister Erdogan as telling them that he would support efforts for peace in Middle East in Thursday’s meeting.
Only Turkey could bring peace to the region, Manasra said.
