Türkiye will never leave Palestine alone: Erdoğan

Türkiye will never abandon Palestinians and protecting them in Gaza from the Israeli atrocities is its obligation, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

"We have never left our brothers in Gaza unprotected, helpless and alone, and we never will," Erdoğan said in his address during a visit to the Black Sea coastal town of Rize on Nov. 5.

Erdoğan referred to the ongoing offensive by the Israeli security forces against the civilians in Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. As a result of Israel's operations, more than 8,000 people with most of them being children and women were killed in Gaza.

"It is our duty to save our Palestinian brothers from Israeli oppression and to stop the massacres committed in Gaza before the eyes of the world," Erdoğan suggested. "It is our historical obligation to expose the crimes of those who committed this immoral, unscrupulous, despicable massacre to those who support them."

Erdoğan recalled that it is also Türkiye's moral duty to protect the holy sites in Jerusalem, including Harem-I Şerif and other venues.

"It must be known that we, in fact, are doing more than meets the eye regarding the Palestinian issues and what is happening in Gaza. And we'll continue to do so," he said.

Türkiye is sitting in the center of the circle of fire, Erdoğan said, if peace and stability are to prevail in the Black Sea in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war it will be thanks to Türkiye's efforts. "Over the 21 years of our rule, we have gained the experience of tackling all these conflicts and bringing about mechanisms to take care of them," Erdoğan said.

President Erdoğan, on his return from the summit of the Organization of the Turkic States over the weekend, has assessed the...