Thousands gather in support of Palestine

Memur-Sen and Turkey's leading NGOs HAK-İŞ, IHH, TÜGVA, AGD, Cihannüma and ÖNDER organised a rally entitled "No to genocide, support Palestine, damn Zionism". At the well-attended rally, the attacks perpetrated by the Israeli occupiers were once again condemned.

Speaking at the rally in Ankara Anıtpark, which attracted a great deal of public attention, Memur-Sen President Ali Yalçın said that they had witnessed one of the greatest acts of destruction and genocide in history and declared: "Gaza is being massacred before our very eyes. The torn bodies of babies and children break our hearts. In fact, it is undergoing a never-ending massacre, not just today but for the last 75 years. The privacy of the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been violated since 1948. Al-Quds, the city of peace, has been sad for 75 years. Every day, the occupiers pillage the homes and possessions of the Palestinians. 2.5 million people live in prison in Gaza, which has been boycotted for 16 years, but in Palestine there is an unshakeable faith and resistance, and for 75 years this faith has written the most glorious and longest heroic epic in history. The flood of Al-Aqsa is a new page in this epic. Some people call this saga terrorism in order to sully it. Let him shoot! "The facts are clear to those who want to know the truth," he said.

"Palestinian resistance is self-defence"

Ali Yalçın said that those who try to hold the Palestinians responsible for recent events should look for the real culprits at the Zionist Congress held in 1898 and said, "If the world is looking for terrorists, look at Israel, if it is looking for criminals, look at the invaders, and if it is looking for accomplices, look at the imperialists! The murderer, the terrorist and terrorism are all there. This pack of murderers; it has expelled 8 million Palestinians from their homes, confiscated their houses and land and undermined their honour and dignity. Palestinian resistance is not a crime, it is an honourable position and self-defence. They are heroes who resist imperialism and Zionism with their bare hands", he said.

President Yalçın said that no one was on the side of the Palestinians during the massacres in Sabra, Chatilla, Hebron and Deir Yasin, when 2.5 million people in Gaza were condemned to starvation, when civilians were massacred every day by warplanes in Gaza, when their mosques, schools and hospitals were bombed and no one stood up for the Palestinians at international level, recalling that no one accused Israel of terrorism when it attacked the Sea of Marmara and Rachel Corrie was killed by a bulldozer; "I swear! This account will only be closed if those who started this brutal war drown in the blood they shed. The only way to achieve peace and tranquillity is for the occupation to end and the invaders to leave. The right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against genocide is legitimate and indisputable. This struggle is a struggle to protect their home, their homeland, their honour, their family and their sacred things. Today, as the Koran says, is the day of Furqan. It is a human duty to support the Palestinian resistance unconditionally. Defending the Palestinian resistance is a question of dignity, a question of manhood. The time is Al-Quds, the day is the day of resistance. We defend Al-Quds, for Al-Aqsa! We will shout from every province and every square. We will grow in faith and raise prayers for peace and the defeat of Zionism. Today is the day. We will do everything we can. The dirty Israeli propaganda network is working. They denigrate resistance and legitimise genocide through fake news, disinformation and perception. We will work to be the voice of truth. "We will raise the voice of our brothers, cry genocide and lift up the world," he said. 

Yalçın: "Islamic countries should come out of standby mode"

Ali Yalçın thanked the citizens who came to the squares and raised their voices, acted with dignity and assumed their responsibilities, and said, "There is a lot to say, but we are at a point where we are running out of words. The United Nations should implement the decisions taken against Israel, the Zionist baby murderers should be tried by the International Criminal Court, the international community and Islamic countries should wake up from their slumber, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation should act in accordance with the reason for its action. The occupation must end, an independent Palestinian state must be established. We salute the resistance of the brotherly Palestinian people against the occupation, and we salute the millions of people who support Palestine in different countries around the world. He concluded his speech by saying: "We salute our Turkish heroes and soldiers who have disrupted the Zionist project by giving no respite to terrorism in Syria and who have sacrificed their lives to ensure peace and security in the region".