The Gaza War: Pro-Hamas Turks try to storm the US airbase in Turkiye
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Days after angry Muslim mobs ‘invaded’ a Russian airport right up to the runway to protest against an Israeli aircraft’s arrival, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters tried to storm an airbase that housed US troops in Turkey on Sunday, the media reported.
Meanwhile, as Israel’s assaults on the Gaza Strip entered a month on Monday, several countries reported massive protests against the Jewish nation’s relentless bombing of the Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million poor people, which started as a counterattack after the Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, killing nearly 1,400 people.
In the Israeli counterattacks from air, ground, and the Mediterranean Sea, around 10,000 Palestinians have so far been killed, amid international concerns and appeals for a ceasefire. However, Tel Aviv has allowed limited humanitarian aid to flow into the Gaza Strip via Egypt.
On Monday, visuals from viral videos of Turkish protests showed police firing tear gas and using water cannons to disperse crowds waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and chanting slogans.
The incident occurred on Sunday at Incirlik airbase in the Adana province in southern Turkey when hundreds of people at a pro-Palestinian rally tried to storm the complex that houses US troops, hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to land in Ankara for talks on Gaza.
Turkey, which has stepped up its criticism of Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened, supports a two-state solution while hosting members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Since the Israel-Hamas war started, protests have erupted across the Muslim country that was the hub of the last Islamic empire of the Ottomans and their Caliphate until 1923.
Earlier this week, the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, an Islamist Turkish aid agency, organized a convoy to travel to the Incirlik air base in the Adana province in southern Turkey to protest Israeli attacks on Gaza and US support for Israel.
Incirlik, which has been used to support the international coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, also houses U.S. troops. IHH’s protest called for Incirlik to be closed.
Protesters were also seen hurling plastic chairs, rocks, and other items at police, who fired smoke bombs at crowds. Scuffles broke out between the crowds and security forces.
IHH President Bulent Yildirim addressed crowds in Adana and urged them to refrain from attacking police.
“Friends, it is wrong to throw rocks or do similar things because both the police and soldiers would want to go to Gaza and fight and they will go when the time comes,” he said.
“Our rage is huge. We cannot hold it in. But Turkey is doing what it can,” he added. IHH ended its rally earlier than planned due to the clashes with police.
The rally came hours before Blinken was expected to arrive in Ankara for talks on Gaza with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Monday and after repeated criticism by Ankara towards the West over support for Israel.
