ISTANBUL (PIC)– Thousands of Turkish people have gathered Friday at the historical Mohammed Al-Fateh Mosque in Istanbul city to participate in the Jerusalem international day chanting anti-Israel slogans.
The demonstration was organized by a number of Turkish organizations working for Palestine under the theme “Friends of Palestine”. Turkish police imposed strict security measures and banned streamers and flags inside the mosque.
A number of the rally’s organizers spoke before the participants explaining the importance of the Palestinian issue and the preciousness of the issue of the occupied city of Jerusalem where the Aqsa Mosque is located to the Turkish people.
In Iran millions of Iranian citizens marched across the country especially in the capital Tehran demonstrating full support for the Palestinian people’s struggle.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was among the participants spoke before the demonstrators explaining essentiality of the issue of Jerusalem to the Iranian people and to all Muslims confirming his country’s unquestionable support for the Palestinian people and their quest for liberation.
He also deprecated the Israeli “heinous crimes” against the Palestinian people describing them as “crimes against humanity”.
In addition the Iranian president lashed out at the USA and Western countries for “blindly” supporting Israel and for sanctioning” its crimes against the unarmed Palestinian people.
Pro-Aqsa slogans were chanted by the millions of the participants.
“The international Quds (Jerusalem) day is taking place while Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and the West Bank suffer the results of a crushing economic embargo that aims at strangling their issue and turning it into a secondary issue; yet we are of full conviction that the steadfast Palestinian people will succeed in foiling all the conspiracies against them” the participants affirmed in a conclusion statement they issued at the end of the rally.
