Jewish citizens are inseparable part of Türkiye: President

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - While anti-Semitism is on rise in the world, Jewish citizens remain an integral part of Turkish society, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

"Our Jewish citizens, with whom we live together with a strong sense of unity, togetherness, and belonging, are an inseparable part of our society today, as they were in the past," Erdogan said in a statement marking the start later Sunday of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.

Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday marking the rededication of the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.​​​​​​​

"While anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia threaten global peace as well as social peace in many countries today, the unity and solidarity of all our citizens in our country, without any discrimination, with the understanding of mutual respect and love, constitute an exceptional example to the whole world," Erdogan said.

Erdogan also voiced hope that Hanukkah will bring peace to all Jews, especially Jewish citizens in Türkiye, and conveyed his "most heartfelt" greetings to them.