Turks march on Israeli embassy, protest Israel president's planned visit to Turkey

Turkish demonstrators have gathered outside the Israeli consulate in Turkey’s most populous city of Istanbul to express their resentment over the forthcoming visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the country.

“We don’t want baby killers (in Turkey)” the protesters chanted as they called on the Turkish government not to host Herzog.

They also shouted “Murderer Israel get out of Palestine” and carried banners reading in Turkish “We don’t want Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Turkey.”

“First of all, Israel is a terrorist regime. It is such a bad thing to invite him (Herzog) to Muslim countries. This is really wrong. It is a blow against Muslims and against the struggle for Palestine. We don’t want Turkey to invite him. We condemn this invitation. Israel must be destroyed immediately because they are oppressing Palestinians,” protester Kamuran Umut said.

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Halil Ayyildiz, another protester, said, “What can the leaders of Islamic countries do with a murderer who dyes the world in blood and kill the babies? We are not obliged to them.”

On Monday, the Israeli president also concluded a “historic visit” to the United Arab Emirates, more than a year after Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv signed a US-brokered normalization agreement that infuriated Palestinians.

Herzog’s visit to the UAE, however, coincided with Yemeni retaliatory attacks against the Persian Gulf country for its increased involvement in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

Juxtaposing a photo of a Yemeni missile with one of the UAE’s de-facto ruler Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan shaking hands with Herzog, journalist Israa Alfass wrote in a tweet that Yemen and bin Zayed “received the head of the occupation entity in their own different ways.”

The Israeli regime recently announced it would come to the aid of the UAE, supporting its military actions against Yemen. On January 18, Israel offered security and intelligence support to the UAE against retaliatory drone attacks from Yemen.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Herzog will pay an official visit to Turkey before mid-February amid frayed bilateral relations.

“This visit could open a new chapter in relations between Turkey and Israel,” Erdogan said in an interview with Turkey’s NTV television news channel on January 26.

Ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv hit their nadir in 2010 following an Israeli naval raid on a Turkish aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, en route to deliver humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. The raid resulted in the death of 10 activists.

In 2013, Turkish-Israeli relations entered a period of normalization after then Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an apology to Turkey, and the Tel Aviv regime paid $20 million in compensation to the Mavi Marmara victims.

Turkey and Israel reappointed ambassadors as part of the reconciliation deal in December 2016.

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Relations broke down again in 2018, after Turkey, angered by the United States moving its embassy to the occupied al-Quds, once more recalled its ambassador from Israel, prompting Israel to also recall its envoy.

Turkish officials continue to criticize Israel’s policies targeting Palestinians, including the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

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