Jerusalem doesn’t belong to you, President Erdoğan
The Waqf’s own guide recognizes, that the Jews and Holy Temple were there long before the Arabs began their occupation of Jerusalem.
By Leonard Grunstein
JNS
Dec 31, 2024
In response to loud chants of “Mr. President, take us to Jerusalem” from a crowd of young people in Mardin, Turkey, during a Dec. 22 speech, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shockingly responded, “Patience brings victory,” instead of chiding the crowd about their inappropriate demand.
Lest there be any misunderstanding about the intent of this exchange, Erdoğan has implied a number of times since 2020 that Jerusalem belongs to Turkey. Indeed, Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, Erdoğan’s coalition partner, in an address the very next day, reportedly declared that the goal was for Turkey to take Jerusalem. This is in line with the resurgent neo-Ottoman posture of Erdoğan.
By way of background, the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem, was conquered and controlled by the Ottoman Empire, with Istanbul as its capital from 1517 to 1917.
The Ottoman Empire was on the losing side of World War I, and under the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920, portions of its former empire were ceded to the victorious allies to establish or reconstitute sovereign states. One such reconstituted country was the Jewish State of Israel, and Article 95 of the Treaty laid the groundwork for its re-establishment within boundaries to be determined by the Principal Allied Powers. The Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 with Turkey, in effect, reaffirmed the foregoing, as detailed in the San Remo Resolution of 1920 and unanimously adopted by the League of Nations in 1922. The United States also confirmed it in the Anglo-American Convention of 1924.
In summary, under treaties to which the Ottoman Empire and Turkey are bound and under international law, the Jewish people’s right to return to their homeland of Israel (then called Palestine), join fellow brethren there and reconstitute the Jewish State there was recognized. As Winston Churchill stated in 1922, the Jews had returned to Palestine “as of right and not by sufferance, and that this was based on their ancient historical connection.”
Erdoğan’s musings are just another one of the baseless positions circulated by biased sources promoting a false narrative and ideologically motivated revisionist history to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel. As a matter of fact and law, the nations of the world in the League of Nations and the United States unanimously confirmed the legal right of the Jewish People to the whole of the area west of the Jordan River, then called Palestine and now known as Israel.
It is suggested that much of the uproar and machinations regarding the Temple Mount are inspired by pseudo-Muslims (not pious ones) with political and ideological driven agendas unrelated to prayer at the Al-Aksa mosque. Instead, it appears they callously tread in the Al-Aksa mosque, clad in shoes, despite the Islamic prohibition against doing so, dressed in inappropriate apparel, like shorts and T-shirts, and without head covering. They also play soccer and conduct other non-prayer activities on the Temple Mount without regard to its sanctity. This includes despoiling the Al-Aksa mosque, throwing rocks, setting off explosive devices, breaking windows, arson and other despicable acts. This abusive behavior by their fellow Muslims should offend the Muslim authorities in charge of the site. Yet, they don’t seem to have taken any actions to prevent a reoccurrence, nor does there appear to be a public outcry against the perpetrators or the laxness of the Muslim authorities.
At the same time, there are all sorts of negative reactions, protests and rancor when non-Muslims quietly and reverently pray elsewhere on the Temple Mount. This is wholly inconsistent with the usual religious sensibilities and kindness practiced by those treasuring the sanctity of a site, be it a synagogue, church, mosque, ashram, Buddhist temple or other place of worship almost anywhere else in the world.
In this regard, it is interesting to note that the Ottoman Empire agreed, pursuant to the Treaty of Paris of 1856 at the end of the Crimean War, that Christians and Jews were legally permitted to pray on the Temple Mount.
It is important to note that the 1925 “A Brief Guide to Al-Haram Al-Sharif” (i.e. the Temple Mount), published by the Supreme Moslem Council, the Waqf, refers to the seminal Jewish link to the Temple Mount (citing Samuel II, 24:25), saying this, too, is the spot, according to the universal belief, on which “David built there an Altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.”
The pseudo-Islamist temple deniers should be universally reviled for their impudent rejection of their own religious traditions and beliefs in favor of absurd propaganda.
The guide also focuses on Muslim history and its first encounter with the Temple Mount and notes that the Muslim period’s starting point is the year 637 CE, when Caliph Omar first occupied Jerusalem. This is a striking rebuke to those who falsely assert that Arab Muslims were indigenous to Jerusalem. As the Waqf’s own guide recognizes, the Jews and their Holy Temple on the Temple Mount were there first. This was more than 1½ millennia before the Arabs arrived and began their occupation of Jerusalem.
The guide also explains that the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque. The actual Arabic name of Qubbat al-Sakhrah is more precisely translated as the dome over the “foundation stone.” This accords with Jewish tradition, which refers to this stone as the Even Shetiyah “foundation stone.” It is where the Holy of Holies portion of the Beit Hamikdash, the Holy Temple, was located. Hence, the use of the Arabic term al-Quds for the Temple Mount is derived from Bayt Al-Maqdis, which is Arabic for the Hebrew term Beit Hamikdash.
The Al-Aksa mosque is located outside the holy precincts of the Jewish Temple and is situated on the southern extension of the Temple Mount platform built by Herod. As Al-Tabari, a 9th-century respected Muslim historian, explained, this was Omar’s intention so that Muslims would pray towards Mecca, consistent with Islamic practice and not the place of the Jewish temple as required by Jewish custom. In this regard, it should be noted that 13th-century Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya declared about the site of the Dome of the Rock: “Men of knowledge who were companions or followers of the Prophet chose the best path and did not exalt the Rock, because it is a quibla mansukha, like the Sabbath, … so too, the Rock is exalted only by Jews and some Christians.”
It is astonishing that the words of this noted Sunni scholar are simply and callously ignored in favor of the dictates of political ideology by Erdoğan.
As to Erdoğan’s other fatuous remarks about Jerusalem, pictures are worth a thousand words. Just view photographs of the Temple Mount in the 19th century when the Ottoman Empire controlled the area. These photos show an abandoned site with the Dome of the Rock and other structures in disrepair. They do not depict what might be expected if this were indeed a highly venerated site, important to the Muslim religion, which, after all, was the official and dominant religion of the Ottoman Empire that occupied and was in firm control of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, at the time.
Jerusalem does not belong to Turkey, and Erdoğan’s apparent aspirations to re-create a neo-Ottoman colonial empire are nothing more than a dystopian nightmare.
Israel is a blessing to the world. Turkey should genuinely join the circle of peace under the Abraham Accords and enjoy the shared prosperity and mutual respect it engenders. May the blessings of peace prevail.
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