Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that the League of Parliamentarians for al-Quds has, since its founding, filled an important gap at the global parliamentary level. 
In his speech at the opening session of the League’s fifth conference, Erdoğan added that the League has become the voice and soul of the Palestinian issue at the global level thanks to its activities and work in all fields, expressing his gratitude to the League for its support for the struggle for peace.
“We are going through days when it is difficult to be Muslims and defend truth, justice and our holy places. It is our duty to defend Jerusalem from the Zionist Crusader mentality,” Erdoğan said, stressing that the Palestinian people are being subjected to one of the most heinous crimes in history.
He described the Israeli occupation army as “modern-day pharaohs and neo-Nazis who killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip” asserting that “Some people are annoyed by our discourse and think they can silence us on charges of anti-Semitism, but they will not succeed. And whatever you do, you will not put constraints on the heart of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's, and he will continue to defend the Palestinian issue.” 
“I pray to Allah, O Allah, in your mighty name, defeat these Zionists, headed by Netanyahu,” Erdoğan pleaded adding that Palestine is a test paper for every Muslim.” He stressed that “We cannot describe the Palestinian resistance fighters as terrorists, and we will continue to consider Hamas as a liberation group.”
President Erdoğan emphasised that “Nothing justifies the genocide in Gaza, whether you agree or disagree with what happened on October 7, and you cannot justify the failure to adhere to the minimum law and ethics of war and the killing of infants. We have cut trade ties with Israel, and we will continue to do so, and we might cut other ties as well.” 
On Friday, the League of Parliamentarians for al-Quds launched its fifth international parliamentary conference in Istanbul under the auspices of the Turkish Parliament, titled “Freedom and Independence for Palestine.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, and more than 700 parliamentarians from 80 countries, in addition to official, international and Turkish figures, are participating in the three-day conference.