Israel asks Turkish envoy in Palestine to leave country

By Esat Firat

JERUSALEM

Turkey’s consul general in Jerusalem was summoned by Israeli Foreign Ministry on Tuesday and asked to leave the country for a while.

In a statement issued by Israeli Foreign Ministry, Gurcan Turkoglu was summoned and asked to return to his country, considering latest development on bilateral relation between Jerusalem and Ankara.

The move came just a couple of hours after Turkey asked Israeli ambassador to return to his country, following indiscriminate violence and killings by Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border.

At least 61 Palestinian demonstrators were martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli forces.

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered on Gaza Strip’s eastern border since Monday morning to take part in protests aimed to commemorate the Nakba anniversary and protest relocating of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since the border rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred by cross-border Israeli gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Last week, the Israeli government said the ongoing border protests constituted a “state of war” in which international humanitarian law did not apply.