ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed that the only way to achieve stability and peace in Palestine is to create an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Speaking at the opening session of the 16th Conference of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Parliamentary Union in Istanbul, Erdogan stated: “Jerusalem is not the issue of a group of courageous Muslims, but the issue of all the Muslim world.”
He reiterated that making Muslims pay the price of genocide against Jews in Europe during WWII is: “A kind of oppression and lack of conscience.”
The Turkish president proclaimed: “As grandsons of people who ruled Jerusalem for 400 years, we cannot bear seeing blood, tears, and oppression in Palestine.”
At the same time, he told the Muslim officials: “Jerusalem is a blessed city and the trust of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) for his nation, and defending it means defending the whole of humanity, human rights and laws, peace, justice, and civilisation.”
Erdogan explained that Palestinians: “Are being killed brutally in the streets and their children are being treated like terrorists, and their worship houses are subject to daily aggression.”
