Turkish leader: Muslims won’t remain silent over Temple Mount

Turkish President’s inflammatory rhetoric singles out Israeli security measures on the Temple Mount. 

Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, condemned Israeli security precautions at the Temple Mount, threatening that the Islamic world would not remain silent.

Erdogan addressed reporters Sunday in Istanbul before departing on a visit to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.

“No one can expect the Islamic world to remain unresponsive after the humiliation Muslims suffered with the restrictions at the Noble Sanctuary,” he stated.

Earlier last week, Israel installed metal detectors at the shrine following a deadly attack by Muslim terrorists there who killed two Israeli policemen.

Palestinians perceive the metal detectors as an encroachment on the rights of Muslims, who have blamed the security measures for their protests in various spots throughout the world.

Erdogan called on Israel to remove the detectors in a phone conversation with his counterpart Reuven Rivlin on Thursday.

In the conversation, Rivlin slammed Turkey’s lack of condemnation of the attack.

“Israel was maintaining and would continue to maintain the status quo at the holy sites,” Rivlin told Erdogan.

On Saturday, Erdogan stated that the “metal detectors and other restrictions should be immediately lifted and returned to the status quo. Everyone should be guard against provocations at this sensitive time.”

Similarly, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned Israel.

Yildirim tweeted that Muslims’ access to Al-Aqsa “being restricted for any reason is unacceptable.”

He further tweeted, “We are waiting for Israel to right this wrong by heeding the Islamic world’s sensitivities,” according to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

“Terror is a common threat to all humanity. Terror has no religion, language, or race. We strongly condemn terror once more,” the statement added.

Israel installed metal detectors and cameras at the site’s gates, which Palestinians claim changes the status quo on the Temple Mount

Israel refused to remove the detectors, explaining that such security measures are similar to procedures taken at other holy sites around the world.

By: World Israel News Staff and AP