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Erdoğan calls for emergency summit of Muslim country leaders to discuss Gaza war

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Organization of Islamic States, whose 'duty is defending Jerusalem cause', to meet at leadership level without further delay to discuss Israel's genocidal military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Agencies and A News WORLD
Published September 09,2024
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to convene an emergency summit to discuss the war in Gaza and Israel's attacks on Jerusalem and occupied West Bank.

Erdoğan, who has been a vocal critic of Israeli massacres in the conflict-hit Gaza Strip, called on Islamic countries at the weekend to form an alliance against Israel's "expansionism".

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdoğan said Israel was targeting the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem as part of its "expansionist" drive. Jerusalem and the mosque - known to Jews as Temple Mount - was Ankara's "red line", he added.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has 57 member states and claims to be the collective voice of the Muslim world.

"It is unthinkable for the OIC, whose duty is to take care of the Jerusalem cause, to remain indifferent to these attacks. It is urgent that the organisation convenes at the leadership level without losing more time," Erdoğan said.

He added that Türkiye would apply to the International Court of Justice in The Hague over Israel's killing of a Turkish-American woman, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, at a protest in the West Bank last week.

"We will take every legal step for her blood not to remain on the ground," Erdoğan said.

"The genocide-committing Israeli leadership will absolutely be held accountable for the crimes it has committed," he added.