Political parties of all stripes in Turkey said Tuesday that any attack against the Jewish minority and its holy sites "has never been tolerated nor will ever be accepted in any way."
Addressing fellow members of their respective parties, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) chairman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli and Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said that attacks against Jewish sites will not be tolerated after people demanded retaliation for what happened at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Erdoğan said the government has taken all the necessary steps to prevent attacks on synagogues and the country's Jewish citizens. Stressing that nothing has happened so far except for a couple of minor incidents, the president said: "I am addressing my people, different think tanks, political parties and nongovernmental organizations. There is no point in attacking synagogues on the grounds that this or that happened at Al-Aqsa Mosque." Bahçeli also condemned any attack targeting synagogues or the Jewish community in Turkey: "Any harm to our Jewish citizens or their religious preferences and beliefs is an ugliness that is incompatible with Turkey and the Turkish nation, and we can never approve of it."
CHP Chairman Kılıçdaroğlu said attacks against the Neve Şalom Synagogue cannot be tolerated. "We are watching the tensions and violence in Jerusalem. Israel should not violate the general protocol," Kılıçdaroğlu said, adding that it is not acceptable for people in Turkey to be affected by what is happening elsewhere.
