Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu resigned from his post on Thursday afternoon.

Davutoglu told journalists at a news conference that followed the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s central executive committee meeting, “I have worked with my heart and soul. There was no fallout from the AK Party structure during my chairmanship.

Davutoglu explained that his decision to resign was made “out of necessity,” saying, “I think that it is right to step down for the continuity of AK Party’s unity and solidarity,” according to Turkey’s Daily Sabah news site.

Erdogan has long been pressuring the party – and the country – for a Constitutional change that would create a presidential leadership government, one without a prime minister.

“Strong AK Party governments will continue in the next four years. Determined operations against terror groups are successfully continuing,” he said. “No investments were left unfinished and there were no setbacks during my tenure as prime minister,” he added.

Davutoglu said he would not run as a candidate for party leadership in the May 22 party congress. However, he said, “I will not tolerate any speculations about my relationship with President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan. My loyalty to the president will last to the end.”

It is not yet clear how Davutoglu’s resignation will affect Turkey’s diplomatic talks with Israel.

Senior Foreign Ministry official Dore Gold has cut short his visit to the United States and is traveling to Turkey following the terror attack that killed three Israelis on Saturday morning in Istanbul.

Three Israelis and an Iranian were killed along with the terrorist; 39 people were wounded, including 11 Israelis.

Gold was in the U.S. to attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference.

Instead, he will visit wounded Israeli citizens who are hospitalized in Istanbul, and then meet with Turkish officials, according to Turkish media.

Numerous foreign consulates are located along Istiklal Street and around the immediate area where the attack took place.

This past Wednesday Germany closed its consulate and school in Istanbul due to credible security threats, according to the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack in a statement released by spokesperson John Kirby.

“The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack today on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those killed and our hopes for a quick recovery for those wounded,” the statement read.

“We will remain in close touch with Turkish authorities during the investigation. The United States stands in solidarity with our NATO Ally Turkey in combating the common threat of terrorism.

“This vicious attack is the latest in a series of indefensible violence targeting innocent people throughout Turkey – Turkish citizens and international visitors alike. These acts of terrorism only reinforce our determination to support all those across the region working to promote peace and reconciliation,” the statement said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned the attack in a written statement saying there can be no justification for terrorism. He said, “NATO allies stand united with Turkey, determined to fight against terrorism.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also condemned the attack.

“I strongly condemn this despicable and cowardly act that has caused the death of several people,” Ayrault said in a statement, adding Paris stands in solidarity with Turkey.

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) meanwhile has launched disciplinary proceedings against its media director and women’s bureau chief Irem Aktas, who tweeted on Saturday after the Istanbul suicide bombing, “Let the wounded Israeli citizens be worse, I wish they all died.”

Hatice Yücel, who heads Istanbul’s Eyüp district women’s branch, tweeted that the comments of party member Irem Aktas did not reflect AKP’s viewpoint. The tweet was deleted and Aktas’ social media accounts were shut down. The disciplinary proceedings against Aktas could result in her dismissal from the party, Yücel added.

Turkey goes to the polls today (Sunday, Nov. 1) to choose its parliamentarians. The poll follows a June 7 election that turned the government upside down, removing the Islamist Justice and Development (AK) Party from a single-party majority.

A strong backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the rest of the AKP leadership forced the Nov. 1 election in an attempt to regain a parliament majority.

The November polls were called after the AKP failed to create a viable coalition government; ; President Erdogan refused to allow a different party to attempt to form a government instead.

Since June, the interim national unity caretaker government has negotiated two new agreements.

The first deal was reached with the European Union over measures to handle the growing Syrian refugee crisis in exchange for advancing negotiations over Turkey’s membership in the EU.

The second agreement was reached in mid-July with the United States over the use by USAF warplanes of Turkish air bases and air space while fighting Da’esh (ISIS) terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

A delegation of Hamas officials has arrived in Turkey to attend the annual convention of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development AK Party.

Among those accompanying Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal is Jihad Ya’amar.

It was Ya’amar who drove the car for the terror cell that abducted and murdered IDF Sergeant Nachshon Wachsman, age 19, in 1994. Wachsman, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was a member of an elite commando unit in the Golani Brigade.

The soldier set out at night from his Jerusalem home on October 8, 1994 after the end of the Sabbath and was picked up hitchhiking at the Bnai Atarot junction by a car of Hamas operatives wearing yarmulkas. Israeli intelligence found out they had a Tanach (Bible) and siddur (Hebrew prayerbook) on the dashboard, and Chassidic music playing at the time.

Two days later, a video was released showing Wachsman tied up, and saying that Hamas had abducted him. He also said they were demanding the release of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and 200 others from Israeli prisons and would execute him within the week if the demands were not met.

Meanwhile, the IDF had captured Jihad Ya’amar, who was subsequently convicted of Wachsman’s murder after the young officer was executed by his captors.

Ya’amar was freed in October 2011 in exchange for the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas in 2006 and held captive for five years in Gaza.

Hamas terror commander Mohammed Deif has stated that he was the commander of the operation to abduct Wachsman in Oct. 1994.

Lütfü Türkkan, a Turkish deputy from the Nationalist Movement Party(MHP), introduced on Monday a bill to the Parliament of Turkey which proposes recognizing Israel as “a terrorist state.”

Turkkan told the Turkish parliament that Israel was conceived in terror, in 1948, that Israel’s “attack” on the “humanitarian” ship the Mavi Marmara constituted terrorism and that Israel’s actions in this past summer’s war with Gaza were also acts of terrorism.

The far rightist legislator said that Israel deliberately targets civilians and that the reason the Arab-Israel conflict has not yet been resolved is because of Israel’s “terrorist actions” against Palestinian Arabs.

Türkkan gave a brief summary for why Israel should be branded a “terrorist state”:

Israel has intentionally targeted civilians in Gaza, killing mostly women and children. Most recently, on 7 July 2014, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip by air and sea, on 17 July, the operation was expanded to an Israeli ground invasion. The number of causalities has been increasing because of continued attacks. The State of Israel aimed killing children, senior citizens, and women living in Gaza; when this is taken into consideration, Israel’s crimes meet the definition ‘terrorism’.  It has become an undeniable fact that Turkey should recognize Israel as a terrorist state.

Türkkan’s MHP, or Nationalist Action party, is far right. It is currently the second largest opposition party in the Parliament of Turkey.

Turkish political commentator and social media expert Ege Berk Korkut explained to The Jewish Press that Turkkan’s bill is unlikely to ever become law. This is so despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip’s Erdogan’s rabid hatred for Israel, evidenced by his support for Hamas.

According to Korkut, who is a native of Turkey currently residing in Germany, Erdogan will not throw his large majority party, the AKP, behind Türkkan’s bill. This is because both party leaders are too egocentric to do anything to boost the other.

Korkut explained further that despite Erdogan’s strongly anti-Israel statements and sentiments, he is in favor of the strong trade agreement between Israel and Turkey, which was signed in 1995. Finally, as Korkut pointed out, if Erdogan wanted Turkey to name Israel a terrorist state, he would have introduced such legislation himself. Its introduction by a leader of another party virtually guaranteed that the proposed legislation will never become law.

Türkann’s bill is officially named “The Legislative proposal for the recognition of Israel as a terrorist state by Turkey.

The deep freeze in Israel’s diplomatic relations with Turkey, once its closest ally in the region, likely will continue for the next few years.

That was the essence of the message from Turkey’s new prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, the country’s former foreign minister, who follows President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his position – both diplomatically and politically. Erdogan was prime minister before being elected last month as president.

The prime minister told Turkey’s parliament on Monday that in the Middle East, he saw no hope of “normalizing” ties with Israel unless it stopped attacks on Gaza and ended its blockade, Reuters reported. Both are defensive measures designed to fend off terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.

None of the English-language Turkish newspapers carried Davutoglu’s remarks in their entirety. The new prime minister is expected to continue Erdogan’s policies. He named a new cabinet last Friday but retained key members of the existing economic management team.

Turkey’s ruling AKP party — and Erdogan in particular — has long been deeply supportive of Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization, and a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood organization that spawned the terrorist group.

On May 31, 2010, Erdogan recalled Turkey’s ambassador to Israel after nine terror activists were killed when they attacked Israel Navy commandoes who boarded a flotilla ship allegedly bearing aid to Gaza. A subsequent search of the vessel found there were no humanitarian aid supplies at all in the hold.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Chile, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan said the incident represented a complete violation of international law. “This action, totally contrary to the principles of international law, is inhumane state terrorism,” he claimed at the time. He cut short an official visit to Latin America to ‘deal with the crisis.’

Erdogan has since used the incident to ramp up his anti-Semitic rhetoric and has sabotaged every effort by numerous Israeli and Turkish officials to resolve the “crisis.”

Hamas political bureau terrorist chief Khaled Mashaal spoke on Monday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu about Israel’s air strikes on Gaza’s rocket launchers.

The two men exchanged greetings for a blessed Ramadan — the Islamic holiday in which Muslims fast each day for an entire month — and then Mashaal asked Davutoglu to find a way to block Israel from attacking Gaza terrorists.

The request came on the same morning that Gaza terrorists had launched a barrage of 15 rockets at southern Israel.

Two homes were damaged and at least two local residents were treated for shock on site. Others suffered from anxiety and trauma after a 24-hour period of having to run for their shelters and safe rooms on an average of every 90 minutes due to constant rocket attacks.

All this, barely 48 hours after the Israeli city of Sderot had gone up in flames from a missile attack that struck a paint factory. The chemicals in the factory had exploded upon impact from a Qassam rocket fired by Gaza terrorists. Four residents were wounded and the factory was burned to the ground.

Israel has retaliated with surgical air strikes. Over the weekend a dozen terrorist targets were hit, including two Al Qaeda-linked members of the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL). Both terrorists were killed.