Erdogan: Jerusalem is ours!

With the ghost of the Ottoman Empire leading him, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now claiming Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem is a city of us, for us”, the Turkish president said. “We left blood and tears in this city during World War I. It is still possible to find traces of the Ottoman resistance”.

The Turkish President, in addition to referring to Ankara’s neighbors in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus, spent several minutes talking about “the oppression of the Palestinians by Israel and its illegal presence in Jerusalem”.

President @RTErdogan: “We consider it an honour on behalf of our country and nation to express the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people on every platform, with whom we have lived for centuries.” pic.twitter.com/yCcfrrc5RY

— Turkish Presidency (@trpresidency) October 1, 2020

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“Our first qibla [direction of prayer in Islam] in al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem are the symbolic mosques of our faith. In addition, this city hosts the holy places of Christianity and Judaism”, he stressed, showing what seems to be Turkey’s intention to control these places again.

He emphasized that the Ottoman Empire ruled Jerusalem from 1516 to 1917.

Erdogan stressed that modern Turkey is the successor state that has had a permanent connection to the holy city for years, while condemning Israel’s alleged efforts to recognize the city as the capital of Israel.

During his long speech at the beginning of the new parliamentary term of the Turkish parliament, Erdogan spent several minutes allegedly “mourning” the fate of Jerusalem and the situation of the Palestinians.

“Another crisis that our country and our nation are watching closely is the oppression of Israel against the Palestinians and the various practices that violate the uniqueness of Jerusalem”, he said at the end of his speech.

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"Another crisis that our country and our nation are watching closely is the oppression of Israel against the Palestinians"

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