Egyptians prohibit Turks’ entry into Gaza
ISTANBUL
A Palestinian man attends a rally in front of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. AFP photo
Members of the Union of Turkish World Municipalities, along with a ruling Justice and DevelopmentParty (AKP) deputy, were not allowed to enter Gaza at the Rafah border crossing by Egyptian authorities, Doğan news agency reported yesterday.
A Turkish delegation from the municipalities union was heading to Gaza in order to meet with sister municipalities and to determine humanitarian needs there, Lokman Çağırıcı, mayor of Istanbul’s Bağcılar district told Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.
Çağırıcı said only six people from the group had been allowed to enter Gaza, but four mayors, including himself and AKP deputy Nihat Zeybekçi had not been allowed. Çağırıcı said they had waited six hours for approval. “This is an arbitrary process. We are sorry that this [move] came from Egypt,” said Çağırıcı adding that they would soon make another attempt to enter Gaza. He also said the incident showed that the embargo on Gaza continues.
Çağırıcı also said that he and other mayors did not need visas for entry, as they already had a green passport.
Still, they had applied to the Egyptian authorities beforehand and received permission to enter Gaza. Zeybekçi told a press conference that Egyptian authorities had told them that five people’s names had not been approved, and were thus not allowed into Gaza.
