In yet another provocative gesture, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that he will attend a memorial service at the Hagia Sophia Basilica – a UNESCO-recognized museum that his administration insolently reconverted into a mosque in 2020 – for Hamas’s now deceased political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran in a suspected Israeli attack on Wednesday.
The Turkish president declared Friday, Aug. 2, a national day of mourning in the country. In a post he shared on social media “X” (formerly Twitter) Erdogan stated: “In order to show our support for the Palestinian cause and our solidarity with our Palestinian brothers, Friday, August 2, has been declared a day of national mourning for the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, who became a martyr. I respectfully commemorate Ismail Haniyeh and all Palestinian martyrs and express my condolences to the Palestinian people on behalf of myself and my nation.”
Official Turkey, a long-time NATO member and the Alliance’s only predominately Muslim state, has continued to express its open support to the Hamas militants in Gaza, while launching flagrant threats against Israel. Recently, the Turkish president accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing genocide, among many other derogatory statements issued against the latter.
Hamas confirmed the death of Haniyeh, saying its leader had been killed by Israel after attending an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday of the new president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian.
