Ankara against Israel: “provocations” at Al-Aqsa and an attempt to stop Syria getting back on its feet, says Erdoğan’s High Advisory Board

Turkey has launched a fresh attack on Israel, accusing it of turning, after the attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, to “provocations” targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque and of trying to prevent Syria from getting back on its feet. The position was expressed at the meeting of the Presidential High Advisory Board held on Wednesday, October 14, at the presidential complex in Ankara under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The conclusions of the meeting were announced in a written statement by the head of the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate, Burhanettin Duran. The subject of the meeting was recent developments in the region and the world. “It was stressed at the meeting that the region is going through difficult days, that Israel, after its attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, has now resorted to provocations targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that Israel also seeks to hinder Syria’s recovery,” says the English version of the statement.

In the Turkish text Ankara uses even more charged wording, speaking of “painful days” in the region and of an Israeli attempt to stop Syria from “rising again”. The statement names no specific incident at Al-Aqsa and no specific Israeli action in Syria.

In the same text the Turkish Presidency brought up the Joint Defence Agreement that Turkey signed in Mecca with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. “It was said at the meeting that the Joint Defence Agreement we signed in Mecca with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia shows that we have strengthened our solidarity with brotherly countries and that we are managing the processes with prudence and composure, without being drawn into provocations,” Duran notes. The agreement has already led to decisions on the rapid deployment of Turkish and Pakistani forces in Saudi Arabia, as covered in our report on the Turkish Defence Ministry’s discussions.

The statement concludes that the initiatives of Turkish foreign policy “focus on regional peace and security”. Daily Sabah, which promotes the position, writes that officials underlined that Turkey continues to manage regional tensions “with restraint and composure”, avoiding provocations and focusing on diplomacy.

The meeting was attended by board members İsmail Kahraman, Mehmet Ali Şahin, Cemil Çiçek, İsmet Yılmaz, former prime minister Binali Yıldırım, Köksal Toptan and Mustafa Şentop, as well as Presidency Secretary General Hakkı Suşmaz, Duran and the director of Erdoğan’s office, Hasan Doğan. The High Advisory Board is an advisory body of the Presidency made up of former senior political figures.

The new position comes at a time of intense confrontation between the two countries. A few days earlier Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Erdoğan of rolling out a “red carpet” for Hamas officials, while Ankara has in the past called for Netanyahu’s arrest through Interpol.