Main opposition CHP slams Israeli violence along Gaza border, calls it a ‘massacre’

ANKARA

The leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu condemned the United States and Israel’s administrations over violence against Palestinian protesters on the day the U.S. Embassy relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In a Twitter post, Kılıçdaroğlu said he condemned the “massacre” taking place in Gaza.

“Before the eyes of the U.S. administration, the cruelty of the Israeli administration in the Middle East is a crime against humanity. I condemn the massacre in Gaza and condemn the U.S. and Israeli administrations. We stand with the oppressed Palestinian people,” he wrote.

Muharrem İnce, the party’s candidate for the presidency, also slammed the violence and urged for Turkey’s ambassadors to the U.S. and Israel to be recalled.

“The U.S. and Israel are installing a permanent animosity in the Middle East,” İnce said, speaking in the central Anatolian province of Konya on May 14.

“We condemn them. I am addressing the Turkish authorities to recall the Turkish ambassador in Washington now,” he added.

At least 50 Palestinians killed

At least 52 Palestinian demonstrators were killed on May 14—and hundreds more injured—by Israeli army forces deployed along the other side of the border, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

CHP spokesman Bülent Tezcan, in a press meeting, described the events as a “shame on humanity.”

“There is a massacre going on in Gaza. We condemn this massacre. The shame of humanity is being displayed right now,” he said.

CHP parliament deputy group chairman Özgür Özel, also said in a news conference that “a process has begun” with the U.S. relocating its embassy to Jerusalem, “which we worry [will plunge] the Middle East into bloodshed.”

Trump sparked international outcry last December when he unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and vowed to relocate Washington’s embassy to the city.

The embassy relocation coincides with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment in 1948—an event Palestinians refer to as the “Nakba” or the “Catastrophe.”