Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reference to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over Jerusalem has sparked a new controversy between the two leaders.
“This is our city, Erdoğan. It is not your city. It will always be our city. It will never be divided again,” Netanyahu said about Jerusalem.
Netanyahu's remarks are thought to have been made in response to statements Erdoğan made in a speech in October 2020. In his speech to parliament, Erdoğan drew attention to traces of the Ottoman period in Jerusalem, saying, “Jerusalem is our city, it is one of us.”
Erdoğan responded to Netanyahu at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Foreign Ministry complex.
He said that Turkey's foreign policy is focused on peace, but that Muslims will not back down in the face of insolence. “We are not going to give up our rights in Jerusalem. We will not permit the defilement of Jerusalem,” he said.
Erdoğan, who has repeatedly likened Netanyahu to Hitler, did so again on Sept. 16 while returning from Doha, where he attended a joint summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League, held at Qatar’s request.
“Netanyahu is almost ideologically akin to Hitler. Just as Hitler failed to see the defeat that awaited him, Netanyahu will suffer the same ultimate fate,” Erdoğan said.
Netanyahu recalled a 1998 incident with then Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz.
Netanyahu said that he requested the 2,700-year-old Siloam Inscription, discovered in Jerusalem during the Ottoman era, from Yılmaz while he was visiting Israel. He said that Yılmaz rejected his offer to exchange the inscription for Ottoman-era items, citing conservatives including Erdoğan, who was the mayor of Istanbul at the time, as justification.
ULTRANATIONALIST CHAIR CALLS FOR TURKEY, RUSSIA, AND CHINA ALLIANCE AGAINST THE U.S.-ISRAEL
MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli also waded into the debate proposing that Turkey, Russia, and China (TRÇ in Turkish initials) form an alliance against the evil coalition of the U.S. and Israel, which is challenging the world.
In his written statement, Bahçeli said that the TRÇ alliance would be the most suitable option in terms of reason, diplomacy, the spirit of politics, geographical conditions, and the strategic environment of the new century.
Bahçeli also responded to Netanyahu's statements regarding Jerusalem.
“Those who are determined to interfere with Jerusalem's spiritual status, which is based on its history, religion, and culture, are void in the human conscience,” he said.
Bahçeli recalled that Netanyahu had previously asked Turkey for the Siloam Inscription on multiple occasions. He said that claiming Jerusalem as their own based on the stone tablet that was kept in Istanbul was both a sign of historical ignorance and a sign of a delusional and ignorant style.
“We were forced to leave Jerusalem a hundred years ago. But this time we will not abandon it to its fate, we must not,” said Bahçeli, adding that they would press on against the tyrants.
“We shall not stray from our just cause in the slightest. Because history will tumble if Jerusalem falls, and Islam will become weaker. Ankara loses and Istanbul burns if Jerusalem falls. No one has the right to do this,” he said.
