Turkey calls for international cooperation to ‘protect’ al-Aksa Mosque

Turkish President Erdogan calls on the UN Security Council to take action amid upheaval in Jerusalem tensions.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
A view of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A view of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Ankara is working to establish an international Quds foundation in order to “protect” the Aksa Mosque from “Israeli aggression.”
Kurtulmus said that Turkey calls on all countries to cooperate against Israel’s “assaults” in Jerusalem, the Turkish Anadolu Agency, the official government news agency in Turkey, reported on Wednesday.
“We will recommend setting up an international Quds foundation as a proposal,” he told the Turkish news agency while in Morocco on Tuesday.
The deputy prime minister was in Morocco to attend the Qud’s Contact Group meeting on Wednesday of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The Contact Group was established at the ministerial level in 2013.
“Hopefully, steps will be taken in order to protect the Islamic heritage in Quds, stop the Israeli aggression, and review the condition of al-Aksa, which is protected under the international law,” he said. Kurtulmus also called for “concrete efforts” that “can be launched and made public to the international community.”
“We will call upon all world states and circles that side with justice” to cooperate, he added.
Officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Guinea, Azerbaijan, Malaysia and Turkey attended, according to Anadolu.
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the UN Security Council to take action against Israel for its “raid” on the Aksa Mosque, according to presidential sources quoted by Anadolu on Wednesday.