Turkish Deputy PM celebrates Passover

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation over 3,300 years ago by God from slavery in ancient Egypt. AFP photo

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç celebrated Passover in a message sent today to Ishak Ibrahimzadeh, the head of the local Jewish community.

“It is our basic stance and principle to enable Jewish citizens to perform their beliefs and traditions freely,” Arınç said. “I celebrate the Passover of Jewish citizens living in our country and all Jews.”

The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation over 3,300 years ago by God from slavery in ancient Egypt, and their birth as a nation under the leadership of Moses.

It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

Seven-day holiday

In Israel, Passover is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days observed as legal holidays and as holy days involving abstention from work, special prayer services, and holiday meals; the intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed.