Ankara - Iran has asked Turkey to play a role in bringing Tehran and Washington together to discuss mutual concerns, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday night.

"We have said this before: we are ready. Iran wants us to play a role," Erdogan said in a panel interview including Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa during a flight to Ankara, after local election campaigning in the south-eastern city of Mardin.

Washington - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an exclusive interview Saturday in the Washington Post, blamed the policy of isolating the radical Islamst movement Hamas as a reason for the ongoing tensions in the Gaza Strip.

Erdogan, who was Thursday the centre of controversy at the World Economic Forum in Davos after an angry exchange with Israeli President Shimon Peres, argued for engaging Hamas in the Mideast process.

Erdogan stormed off the podium at that meeting following his exchange with the Israeli president, and was welcomed as a hero in Turkey for the move.

Ankara - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday repeated his harsh criticism of Israel's military operations in Gaza following his dramatic walk out at a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday night.

Erdogan denied that his walking out during a debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres was a diplomatic mistake, instead complaining of the way he, as the prime minister of Turkey, was treated during the debate.

Ankara/Davos, Switzerland  - Thousands of Turks gathered early Friday morning to welcome home Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who on Thursday night stormed out of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos after a heated exchange with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Brussels - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in the European Union's capital on Monday for talks on Iran, Gaza and his country's EU hopes, officials in Brussels said.

Erdogan was due to meet the EU's highest foreign-policy official, Javier Solana, to "discuss EU-Turkey relations and other foreign policy issues, in particular the latest developments in the Middle East and Iran," a statement from Solana's office said.

Tel Aviv, Jan. 6: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's toxic comments Sunday that Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip would lead to punishment from Allah and Israel's "self-destruction" has drawn a strong protest from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which told Turkey''s ambassador to Israel that these words were "unacceptable" among friendly nations.