Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çipec said yesterday (Saturday) at a ruling party conference that Turkey will take control of Jerusalem one day.
At a Justice and Development Party meeting in the Çorum district, Çipçi said: "Just as we saw the freedom of Damascus, Aleppo and Karabakh, so with the help of Allah we will one day see the freedom of Jerusalem.".
Before being appointed to the position last February, Çipec was the governor of Erzurum Province.
At the conference, he told about his dream: "When I served as governor, I had one prayer to Allah. The wish I cherished in my heart was: 'Lord of the universe, grant me the privilege of serving, even if only for one day, as the governor of Jerusalem.' I still believe today that Allah will show us those days, He will certainly show us them. I believed in it with all my heart, and I continue to believe in it.
""As it was before, these places will be ours again. They will return, with the help of Allah, to be under our rule and authority. Because we have a world leader like Recep Tayyip Erdogan at our head. We have a leader on a global scale.".
Defense Minister Israel Katz responded: "To the Turkish Interior Minister who is threatened and dreams of ruling in Jerusalem - I say this: Jerusalem is not Constantinople and the State of Israel is not the crumbling Crusader empire, but a strong and determined state that has proven its ability to defend itself against any threat.".
""Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years and will continue to be the capital of Israel forever, while the Ottoman Empire that you and Erdogan dream of has collapsed and will never return.".
""It's a shame you didn't learn anything from the legacy of Ataturk, who worked to make Turkey a modern state, and are working to return Turkey to the age of darkness and backwardness.".
