Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan Accuses Israel of Curbing Muslim Prayer
Image by Getty Images
– President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey accused Israel of restricting Muslim worship while calling on all Muslims to embrace the Palestinian cause and protect Jerusalem.
Erdogan made the call to Muslims on Tuesday during public remarks at the Symposium of Jerusalem Platform in Istanbul. A Turkish government document sent to JTA summarized his remarks.
“It is not only the duty of unarmed Palestinian children to protect Al-Aqsa mosque,” Erdogan said.
He added: “We will continue to support Jerusalem with all our means as we have done so far. We will work with might and main to protect Palestine and the sanctity of Al-Aqsa mosque.”
In accusing Israel of restricting Muslim worship, he said it was “harming the sanctity” of Al-Aqsa and that “Policies of oppression, isolation and discrimination have been pursued since 1948.”
He referred specifically to the proposed Israeli legislation to limit the volume and the hours of the Muslim call to prayer, calling it “dangerous.”
“This practice is offensive not only for the Palestinians, but for all Muslims,” Erdogan said. “We have communicated with the Israeli officials our concerns on the kind of dangerous consequences this might have, if such a bill is enacted.”
Erdogan threatened that the region “will not find peace until the wound in the Middle East is treated.” He called for “an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with the capital, East Jerusalem, based on the borders of 1967,” as the “only way to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.”
His comments come as Israel and Turkey are taking the last steps toward fulfilling a reconciliation agreement signed over the summer restoring diplomatic ties following a six-year freeze.
Erdogan also addressed the ongoing civil war in Syria, saying that Turkey was forced to intervene in Syria alongside the rebel’s Free Syrian army in order to “ensure justice and put an end to the reign of the oppressor Al-Assad,” while condemning the United Nations for its inaction and lack of attention to the Muslim world.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
