JUST LIKE PALESTINIANS, 'WE BELIEVE' GAZA WILL RISE FROM ASHES, SAYS TURKISH FIRST LADY

ISTANBUL, Dec 27 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan on Friday said the Palestinians believe in a Gaza that will rise from the ashes, adding that “we believe it too.”

According to Anadolu Ajansi, Emine Erdogan’s remarks came at the opening of the Kalanlar (The Remnants) Palestine Exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Kalyon Foundation and the Turkish Red Crescent in Istanbul.

Erdogan said Gaza, while being only 365 square kilometres (nearly 227 miles), “has become the centre of the bloodiest, most brutal, most systematic genocide in history, suffering that no conscience can bear.”

Despite the great destruction, there are two million people left behind, and they are struggling to survive in “unimaginably difficult” conditions to keep Gaza afloat, she stated.

Recalling the words of late Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December 2023, Erdogan said: “What falls to us is to tell our story of those who remain, to raise our voices for the implementation of international law, and for this cruelty to stop immediately.”

Stressing that Palestinians are not remaining silent in the face of aggression, she said: “The painter who lost his painting materials depicts hunger with the soot of pots that no longer boil.”

The painter “disrupts the games of perception with the undeniable reality of art,” Erdogan underscored.

She also mentioned a female agricultural engineer who transformed seawater into drinking water, adding that she circumvented the embargo through knowledge.

“Defending Palestine means defending not only the Palestinians but all of humanity, the values that uphold it, and, above all, our right to remain human,” Erdogan added.

Kalyon Foundation President Reyhan Kalyoncu told Anadolu that the exhibition was prepared to make visible the honour, faith and ongoing struggle for existence of the Palestinian people.

The opening ceremony was also attended by Palestinian Ambassador to Ankara Nasri Abu Jaish, Turkish Red Crescent President Fatma Meric Yilmaz, and Kalyon Holding Chairman of the Board of Directors Cemal Kalyoncu.

The exhibition, featuring six installations in six rooms and an experiential area, will continue until March 30 at Kalyon Culture in Istanbul.

Palestinian soup, bagels, olives and dates were served at the exhibition to raise awareness of the situation in Palestine.

Israel launched a war on Gaza in October 2023 killing more than 71,000 Palestinians and wounding more than 171,000 others, most of them women and children.

A ceasefire based on a proposal advanced by US President Donald Trump took effect on Oct 10, but Israel has consistently violated the agreement.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU