Kocaeli NEWS

The convoy, which began with hundreds of vehicles departing from the old Interteks Fairgrounds in Izmit, continued to the center of Gebze. The march, which started from Gebze Old Bazaar and continued to the city square, concluded at the city square with the participation of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tahir Büyükakın, protocol members, and tens of thousands of citizens.

Mayor Tahir Büyükakın expressed his pride in being with the citizens at the rally, stating, "We are here to advise the right. We are here to shout out the truth. We are here to stand against oppression. Martyr Ismail Haniyeh called all Muslims and those who stand for justice to come together against the oppression in Gaza and Palestine. He said, 'Gather and raise your voice against oppression, raise your voice against the oppressors.' He himself joined his Lord before the day of that call. He drank the sherbet of martyrdom. I remember Ismail Haniyeh, who drank the sherbet of martyrdom, with mercy."

"What's happening in Gaza is never a war," Mayor Büyükakın continued. "There was a video shown by our friends earlier. There were children similar to ours in that video. Now children sit on their fathers' shoulders here. But you saw the fear and trauma in the eyes of those children, didn't you? Those are children whose eyes are filled with fear. Just think for a moment that those innocent children are your own. Many of you have come here with your spouses, children, sisters, or parents. Imagine bombs raining down on your mothers, sisters. Gaza's population is slightly larger than Kocaeli's. Imagine bombs raining down on all the people of Kocaeli. The fire burns where it falls, but think about the state of those people and just feel it. You don't need to be a Muslim to feel this; you just need to have a heart. You need to be human because only those who are less than animals cannot feel this. In another video shown earlier, there was a scene from a meeting we attended in the European Parliament. They were saying, 'Let's do something for the children and women in Ukraine, let's raise our voices against the Russian oppression, these sanctions are not enough, let's do more.' I asked for the floor and said, 'Yes, let's do it.' Wherever in the world it is, whoever is oppressed, innocent children, women, unarmed innocent men, all of them should be protected. Oppressors, wherever they commit war crimes, and what's happening in Gaza is never a war. It is an attack and terrorist act by a state called a terror state. There is a genocide there."

Muhammed Hanefi Akbulut, the Term President of Kocaeli Volunteer Cultural Associations, said, "When I visited Ismail Haniyeh a month ago, he gifted me a pin. He took it off his own lapel and pinned it on mine. I will carry this pin with the Palestinian flag with honor for the rest of my life."

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#GebzeRally
#IsmailHaniyeh
#GazaGenocideProtest
#KocaeliVolunteers
#GebzeSolidarity
#StandWithPalestine
#JusticeForGaza
#TahirBüyükakın
#PalestinianFlagPin