President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday reiterated Turkey’s determination to defend the rights of Palestinians as the people face oppression by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine.
“Turkey will never accept the 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 the capital Ankara.
The president continued by clarifying that Turkey’s political-economic relations with Israel are separate from the country’s commitment to the Jerusalem cause and that Turkey will continue to defend the holy city and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital – a status not recognized internationally. It captured East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital for their future state.
“For Turkey, political and economic ties with Israel as necessitated by global and regional factors are separate from the cause for Jerusalem,” Erdoğan said.
“It is clear that the way to effectively defend the Palestinian cause is to have a reasonable, logical, consistent and balanced relationship with Israel,” he underlined.
In recent days, Erdoğan has been conducting intense diplomatic traffic in order to stop Israel’s attacks on occupied East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Within this context, Erdoğan spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Emphasizing that the familiar images that emerge every year hurt not only consciences but cause legitimate reactions throughout the entire Islamic world, Erdoğan made clear that Turkey will continue to work towards ensuring peace and tranquility in any case.
Turkey has in the past launched various initiatives within the United Nations and Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) against Israeli actions towards Palestinian and its policies regarding East Jerusalem or its status.
Al-Aqsa is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the “Temple Mount,” claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. The holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Tensions this year have been heightened in part by the Islamic holy month of Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish celebration of Passover.
Hundreds of Israeli settlers have stormed the flashpoint compound since last week under heavy police protection to celebrate the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday.
The Israeli police, meanwhile, imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian youths to Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the dawn prayer.
Tension has mounted across the Palestinian territories since last week when Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards and attacked worshippers, injuring hundreds.
Daily settler incursions into the flashpoint site to celebrate the Passover holiday have further inflamed the situation. Since 2003, Israel has allowed settlers into the compound almost daily.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.
Erdoğan’s comments come amid efforts by Turkey and Israel in recent months to normalize their long-strained ties.
Regional rivals expelled ambassadors in 2018 and have often traded barbs over the Palestinian conflict 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, Erdoğan had told 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.