Turkey has dismissed claims that Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will be moving to Turkey, saying that Turkey also didn’t pledge aid to the Palestinian party.

Turkish government spokesman Bülent Arınç told a news conference Monday following a cabinet meeting that Meshaal’s stay in Turkey is out of question. He added that news reports claiming that Turkish government will give them some millions of dollars in aid are also not true.

In a response to a question about Hamas moving to Turkey after leaving Damascus, Arınç said Hamas is an organization that has been recognized by Turkey and formed government in Palestinian territories following democratic elections in 2006.

“Khaled Meshaal’s stay in Turkey is out of question,” Arınç, who is also deputy prime minister, told reporters.

Meshaal recently visited Turkey which recognizes Hamas as a legal political party.

Some diplomatic sources have said that Turkey also promised to provide Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's Gaza Strip administration with $300 million to support its annual budget. Turkish Foreign Ministry earlier dismissed the reports.

Meshaal, 55, has been based in Damascus since 2001, fearing for his safety and restriction of movement in Gaza. He has been the chief of Hamas since 1996, responsible for setting policy.

Diplomatic and intelligence sources say Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal no longer spends much time in Syria, where over 5,000 people have been killed in 10 months of conflict.

However, Hamas said in a statement in recent days that Meshaal's absence from Damascus was due only to concerns about security in that country at the moment and denied that it had moved its leadership or headquarters out of Syria for good.

Arınç noted that Turkey’s goal is to realize peace process between Israel and united Palestinian political factions. He said Turkey is closely interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that Turkey believes strengthening unity of Palestinians will benefit Palestinian people.

He underlined that Hamas and its leaders are significant figures in this process and that Turkey’s relations with Hamas is limited only to what he said.