Erdogan greets Turkey’s Jewish community’s Hanukkah

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eyeing on mending fractured relations with Israel has issued a Hannukah greeting for Turkish citizens of Jewish faith.

“Our Jewish citizens, with whom we live together in a strong sense of unity, solidarity and belonging, are an inseparable part of our society, as has been the case in the past,” Erdogan said via a written statement by his office on Sunday.

Turkey and Israel are making efforts to mend relations that was deeply fractured more than a decade, over a string of disputed issues, including Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and Turkey’s ties with Hamas which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel and the United States.

The two governments in August decided to restore diplomatic relations and in October they both named new ambassadors for the first time since 2018.

“While antisemitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia threaten social peace today in many countries as well as global peace, the unity and solidarity, all our citizens display in our country with mutual respect, love and understanding without any discrimination, sets an exceptional example to the entire world,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan known for his harsh criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, previously accused Israel of being “a cruel terrorist state.”