Türkiye expresses 'deep concern' over increasing tensions in Jerusalem, West Bank

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye on Wednesday expressed "deep concern" over the increasing tensions in Jerusalem and West Bank as Muslim's holy month of Ramadan nears.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry lambasted the "baseless, irresponsible and provocative claims" made by some Israeli politicians on the Palestinian state and people, "which are incompatible with political, historical or current realities."

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a speech Sunday in the French capital Paris denied the existence of the Palestinian people, saying the Palestinians were “an invention” from the last century and people like himself and his grandparents were the “real Palestinians.”

Ankara further condemned Israel's annulling part of a 2005 law that had ordered Jewish residents' evacuation from four illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.