President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Turkey will not hand over to Israel the Siloam Inscription, a 2,700-year-old artifact housed at the İstanbul Archeological Museum since the late 19th century.
"One shamelessly requests this tablet. Let alone that inscription, we will not give you even a single pebble belonging to Jerusalem,” Erdoğan said, apparently referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech today at the Teknofest military fair in İstanbul.
Addressing the Israeli government, the president said, “To the killers who carry the blood of 65,000 oppressed people of Gaza on their hands, I say this: Jerusalem is the honor and dignity of Muslims and of all humanity. Defending Jerusalem means defending peace and humanity.”
“No matter what schemes they make, our struggle will continue until an independent Palestinian state is established with East Jerusalem as its capital within the 1967 borders,” he added.
Erdoğan's remarks followed recent comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who referred to the inscription during the inauguration of the Pilgrimage Road excavation site on Sep 16 in Jerusalem.
During the ceremony, Netanyahu said he had asked for the tablet during a 1998 meeting with then-Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz. He claimed that Yılmaz declined, saying the growing Islamist base in Turkey, led by then-İstanbul Mayor Erdoğan, would react negatively to such a transfer.
According to Netanyahu, he had offered to exchange “any Ottoman artifact” in Israeli museums for the Siloam Inscription, but the proposal was rejected.
During the ceremony, Netanyahu directly addressed Erdoğan, saying, “This is our city, Mr. Erdoğan. It’s not your city. It will always be our city. It will not be divided again.”
The inscription, written in ancient Hebrew, describes the construction of a tunnel to channel water from the Pool of Siloam into Jerusalem around 700 BCE. Israel argues that it provides key evidence of Jewish history in the city.
East Jerusalem, where the Siloam site is located, has been considered occupied territory under international law since Israel captured it in 1967. (VK)
