Türkiye ‘strongly condemns’ raid of Al-Aqsa Mosque by fanatical Jewish groups

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday “strongly condemned” the raid by fanatical Jewish groups on the Al-Aqsa Mosque under Israeli police protection.

“We strongly condemn the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on 18 May by fanatical Jewish groups under police protection and their attempts to perform prayers in this area, violating once again the historical status quo at Haram Al-Sharif,” the ministry said in a statement.

Türkiye urged the Israeli government not to allow such “provocative actions.”

“We expect the necessary measures for the preservation of status quo in the holy places to be taken seriously and without delay," it added.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers on Thursday forced their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

This came as Israeli settlers prepared to celebrate the 56th anniversary of occupation of East Jerusalem along with their planned “flag march” to walk through East Jerusalem's Old City areas.

Earlier this week, Israeli extremist groups announced that they were seeking to mobilize nearly 5,000 Israeli settlers to break into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on the day of the “flag march” on Thursday.

The “flag march” is staged by Israeli settlers every year to mark what they call the unification of Jerusalem, in reference to Israel's occupation of the city in 1967.