Turkey Vows To Stand By Mideast's Oppressed: AKP Official

Yasin Aktay, deputy chairman of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has said his country would continue to stand by "oppressed people" in the Middle East.



"We've received over 1.5 million Arabs, Kurds, Sunnis and Izids of various nationalities fleeing violence in the region," Aktay, the party official responsible for foreign relations, told an international conference in Tunisia devoted to the Palestinian cause.



Turkey, he added, "will always stand with the oppressed and against the oppressor."



Since 2011, Turkey has taken in some 1.5 million Syrian refugees fleeing the ongoing conflict in their country between the Bashar al-Assad regime and a heavily-armed opposition.



Turkey has also opened its borders to thousands of Syrian Kurds escaping a U.S.-led air offensive targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group.



Aktay also lashed out at Israel over the latter's recent devastating onslaught on the Gaza Strip.



"The murder of one child should be a wake-up call to the world. In this war, over 2,200 innocent people were killed," Aktay said.



Turkey, he added, will "continue supporting the Palestinian people and any initiative that aims to end the [years-long] blockade of the Gaza Strip."



On July 7, Israel began a weeks-long military offensive against Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.



During 51 days of fierce Israeli bombardment, more than 2,150 Palestinians were killed and nearly 11,000 injured – mostly civilians – while thousands of homes across the coastal strip were damaged or destroyed.



Over the same period, at least 73 Israelis – 68 soldiers and five civilians – were killed by Palestinian fighters or rocket fire.



The onslaught finally ended late last month with an indefinite cease-fire that was celebrated by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas as a strategic victory.



By Rashid al-Garai



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Tunis