Hawzah News Agency- The demonstration, held with the participation of more than 400 civil society organisations and led by the Turkish Youth Foundation (TUGVA), was carried out under the slogan “We won’t cower, we won’t keep quiet, we won’t forget Palestine''.
Ahead of the event, members of the public convened before dawn prayers at major mosques across Istanbul, including Sultanahmet Mosque (the Blue Mosque), Fatih, Suleymaniye, and Eminonu New Mosque.
A large banner depicting “Hanzala'', the iconic figure closely associated with the Palestinian cause created by late Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, was hung on a building behind the main press platform.
Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz also shared a message to the event on Turkish social media platform NSosyal, saying: “The Humanity Alliance extends hundreds of thousands of greetings from Istanbul to the Palestinian people, to Gaza, and to all the oppressed across the world. We sincerely thank all individuals and institutions who contributed to this effort''.
Speaking to members of the press during the march, Bilal Erdogan, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an education and research group, and a member of TUGVA’s High Advisory Board, said the new year had begun with prayers for Palestine and that gathering at mosques on the first morning of the year carried strong spiritual meaning.
Also speaking at the demonstration, TUGVA Chair Ibrahim Besinci said the scale of the turnout reflected a collective moral stance against the ongoing violence in Palestine.
Citing figures on the devastation in Gaza, Besinci said that over the past 27 months, 210,000 tons of bombs had been dropped on Gaza, 70,000 civilians had been killed, 2,600 families had been completely wiped from the population registry, and 5,000 families had only a single surviving member.
“In other words, before the eyes of the entire world, a people has been erased not just from the map, but from life'', Besinci said.
Source: 5 PILLARS
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