TURKEY SPONSORS MASS WEDDING OF 2000 COUPLES IN GAZA

Gaza, 15 Sha’ban 1436, 2 Juni 2015 (MINA) – The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, Tika, in collaboration with the Turkish ministry of religious affairs, has sponsored a mass wedding for 2,000 Palestinian couples in the Gaza Strip.

The wedding was organised in cooperation with Hamas aand was held on Sunday in Gaza City, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Hamas Deputy Chief Ismail Haniyyeh delivered a speech thanking Turkey and the Turkish people for their “generous” support for the Palestinians.

Haniyyeh announced that each of the couples would receive a sum of $2,000 as assistance from Turkey.

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He also announced that the Turkish government would build 20 residential buildings in Gaza to be distributed to the families whose houses were destroyed during the latest Israeli offensive last summer.

Haniyyeh also criticised the main Palestinian banks, which refused to accept Turkish money for the wedding and other aid projects.

However, he said that Hamas, who conceded the rule of Gaza for a unity government, would never stand “paralysed” regarding the assistance of Palestinians.

“We do not surrender to attempts to undermine the wedding,” he said, “we survived three [Israeli] offensives and now we are able to bring money to help the people.” Haniyyeh claimed his movement proposed several ways to let the money in and that the Turks have accepted one of them.

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Meanwhile, he said that Hamas has a policy to build relations with all those who support Palestine. He stressed that his movement is seeking further relations with other Arab and European countries.

“We are open to the Turkish Republic as we have deep-rooted relations,” he said. “We need relations with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, We need relations far beyond this, too.”

The former prime minister said that the Palestinians are involved in a liberation battle and that there is a need for a “strategic depth” in their planning and coordination. He reiterated the pledge that Palestinians would eschew sectarian conflict and would never fall into such a “trap” within the territories.(T/P008/R03)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)