CHANGES HEADLINE, SPOT, LEDE; ADDS QUOTES BY ERDOGAN
By Halil Demir and Sefa Mutlu
ISTANBUL (AA) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed the whole world for failing to stand up to Israeli violence against unarmed Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Speaking at a mass rally in Istanbul's Yenikapi fairgrounds that was held to show support for Palestinians, Erdogan said: “The Islamic world failed in the Jerusalem test. Not only the Islamic world but the entire world failed in the Jerusalem test. ”
The rally was launched under the theme “Condemning Oppression, Supporting al-Quds [Jerusalem] “.
A number of huge screen televisions were set up for the crowd to watch the platform from where Erdogan spoke.
Aside from Erdogan, Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahceli, Grand Unity Party (BBP) Mustafa Destici, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Jordanian King Abdullah II were also present at the rally.
Some 20,100 police officers were deployed on the ground, 5,200 of whom were positioned in hotels and on roadways while another 14,900 are on duty at the Yenikapi fairgrounds.
Also, four police helicopters, four boats and 160 armed vehicles were deployed.
Separately, Turkey and Palestine flags were distributed among the crowd.
On Monday, at least 62 Palestinian demonstrators were martyred and hundreds more injured by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the Gaza-Israel fence.
Monday’s demonstration had coincided with Israel’s 70th anniversary — an event Palestinians refer to as “the Catastrophe” — and the relocation of Washington’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem.
Since the Gaza rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred by Israeli army gunfire.
Last week, the Israeli government claimed the ongoing protests constituted a “state of war” in which international humanitarian law does not apply.
