“Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and will remain so forever” 04.12.2023     Addressing the opening event of the 39th Ministerial Session of the COMCEC in Istanbul, President Erdoğan said: “We must display a very clear stance against Israel’s policies of depopulating Gaza. I would like to once again remind the Israeli administrators, who pursue different ambitions, of the fact that Gaza is a Palestinian land. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and will remain so forever.”     President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the opening event of the 39th Ministerial Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) in Istanbul. “We must start the preparations for Gaza’s reconstruction immediately,” stressed the President. “We must display a very clear stance against Israel’s policies of depopulating Gaza.  I would like to once again remind the Israeli administrators, who pursue different ambitions, of the fact that Gaza is a Palestinian land. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and will remain so forever.” “THOSE WHO OCCUPY GAZA TODAY WILL SET THEIR SIGHTS ON OTHER PLACES TOMORROW” “It is incumbent on all of us as the Islamic world not to yield even one inch of the Gazan territory to the occupier Israel,” underlined President Erdoğan, adding: “We must do this not only for our Gazan and Palestinian brothers and sisters, but also for our own security, our own territorial integrity. We know it very well that those who occupy Gaza today will set their sights on other places tomorrow with the delusions of promised lands. So much so that they do not even feel the need to conceal their intention any more.  Netanyahu, the butcher of Gaza, has personally revealed before cameras that the issue is not Gaza or Ramallah but that he pursues expansionist goals. Therefore, defending Gaza and Palestine today means defending Al Quds, Macca, Medina, Istanbul, Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad and other Islamic cities.”  President Erdoğan further stressed: “If we act with the sensitivity and knowledge that we are a big family of two billion individuals extending from Asia to Africa, America to Europe, no one can threaten or shake finger at us.” President Erdoğan continued his remarks as follows: “It has become all the more critical for us to boost our solidarity with the Palestinian people particularly during these trying times for them.  As Türkiye, we, alongside our efforts in the international arena, also work to deliver humanitarian aid to the region. We have sent 12 planeloads of supplies and two civilian aid ships to Al Arish thus far in cooperation with our Egyptian brothers and sisters. We have transferred to Türkiye the wounded as well as cancer patients and children. I have personally visited these patients and shared their pain on behalf of our country and nation.”