The most remarkable aspect of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s visit to al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount on Tuesday was that it was so unremarkable.
Cavusoglu visited the site without Israeli security guards and was accompanied by Azzam al-Khatib, the director-general of the Jordanian-controlled Wakf Muslim religious trust. He was not met on the compound by throngs waving Turkish flags and did not repeat – whether before he went to the site or when he left it – the need for Muslims to “conquer” al-Aqsa by flooding it with visitors.
Five years ago Cavusoglu’s boss, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, did just that. Speaking in 2017 at a conference on Jerusalem held in Istanbul, Erdogan called on Muslims worldwide to visit al-Aqsa often as a way of gaining control, saying that “each day that Jerusalem is under occupation is an insult to us.”
The Turkish president then put his government’s money where his mouth was, and subsidized Turkish visitors wanting to make a pilgrimage to the site. Thousands of Turkish tourists began flowing to Jerusalem’s Old City, and the Turkish flag flew from the Aqsa compound as well as on rooftops and in front of restaurants in the Old City and east Jerusalem.
According to Baruch Yedid, the Arab affairs correspondent for Channel 14 who led a media tour of Jerusalem Sunday sponsored by the Sovereignty Movement, the Turkish government helped refurbish some 70 buildings in the Old City. Some of these refurbished buildings were designed to service the Turkish religious pilgrims, who could enter a coffee shop on one of the alleyways near the Temple Mount, and – while sipping freshly squeezed orange juice – watch Erdogan’s speeches and those of Islamic Movement Northern Branch head Raed Salah on big-screen televisions. Saleh has for years been waging the “al-Aqsa is in danger campaign” against Israel, and in Erdogan found a receptive ear and close ally for years.
At the opening of a parliament session in 2020, with dreams of resurrecting the glory of the Ottoman Empire still in his mind, Erdogan said, “Jerusalem is ours. One of our cities.” His actions to gain inroads in the city – including donating 300 laptops to schools in the Old City so pupils could learn Turkish – showed that he meant it.
“Jerusalem is ours. One of our cities.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Fifty-five years after Israel won Jerusalem during the Six Day War, the battle for control of the city continues to take place at various levels.
Jordan is trying to assert control over the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Compound by demanding to increase the number of Wakf employees and “returning the status quo” at the site. What this means for Jordan is replacing the Israel police who currently stand guard at all the entrances to the compound, including the Mugrabi Gate from which Jews and tourists are allowed access, with Wakf guards. Up until 1996, it was Wakf guards who were positioned at the entryways to the Temple Mount.
Hamas is trying to assert its control as “protector” of the city by threatening to fire rockets, as it did last May, if it is unhappy with the developments in the city. It is threatening to fire rockets if the Jerusalem Day march goes ahead as scheduled on Sunday.
And Fatah is trying to assert control by getting its members placed on the expanded Wakf board, as well as supporting a multitude of organizations throughout the city.
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