Wed 20 April 2022:
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated Turkey’s determination to stand up for the rights of Palestinians against the oppression of Israeli forces in Jerusalem and other places in Palestine.
“Turkey will never accept oppression of Palestinians in Jerusalem and other regions in Palestine,” Erdoğan said at the parliamentary group meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Ankara on Wednesday.
The president continued by saying that Turkey’s political-economic relations with Israel are separate from the country’s determination for the Jerusalem cause and Turkey will continue to defend the holy city and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“We have already made our statements and we are continuing our contacts in response to the unacceptable attacks by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Al-Aqsa,” Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told a news conference in Ankara.
“Our President will have a phone call with Israeli President, Isaac Herzog as well,” he added.
The call comes after Erdogan on Sunday told his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, that he condemned Israeli “intervention on worshippers” at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and threats to its “status or spirit”. It also comes amid recent efforts by Turkey and Israel to repair their long-strained ties.
Regional rivals, Turkey and Israel, expelled ambassadors in 2018 and have often traded barbs over the Palestinian conflict, Turkish support of the Hamas militant group which runs Gaza, and other issues.
Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has said it believes a rapprochement with Israel will also help find a solution to the issue, but that it would not abandon commitments to Palestinians for better ties with Israel.
Earlier this month, Erdogan had told his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, whom he also met in Ankara last month, that Ankara expected Israeli authorities to be sensitive over Al-Aqsa during Ramadan and stressed the importance of allowing Palestinians to enter Israel.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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