TURKEY’S DEPUTY PM: WE WILL KEEP ON STANDING UP FOR PALESTINE

Ankara, 2 Jumadil Akhir 1436/22 March 2015 (MINA) – Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Bülent Arınç, reiterated on Saturday Turkey’s support for the Palestinian cause and the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

Attending a summit titled: “Jerusalem the City of Peace” and hosted by Ankara on Saturday, Turkey’s Arınç said the Palestinian cause can never be worked out unless the Jerusalem file is solved, just as any way-out of the Arab-Israeli conflict depends primarily on solving the Palestinian cause, The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“Protecting Jerusalem is a responsibility before history and the human conscience,” he said.

Arınç added that Turkey will continue with both its humanitarian and development aid to Palestine.

“Our development aid to Palestine was $301 million between 2004 and 2014. Since July 2014 our humanitarian aid to the region has exceeded $20 million,” Arınç maintained, reiterating Turkey’s commitment to provide Gaza with the 200 million dollars pledged in the Cairo reconstruction conference held in October 2014.

He said his country will keep on voicing firm rebuff of any intent to wipe out the typically Islamic identity of Occupied Jerusalem, calling on the Muslim community, nationwide and overseas, to do its part to that very end.(T/P008/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)