Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan secretly hosted Donald Trump Jr. at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul last weekend, Turkey’s main opposition party leader Ozgur Ozel said on September 17 during a rally.

Ozel claimed the covert meeting took place at the palace – located in Besiktas district on the European side of the city on the Bosporus coast – as he hit out at Erdogan for not truly coming to the assistance of the beleaguered Palestinians.

Dispersing Palestinians to Turkey

Palestine is experiencing the greatest suffering in its history, Ozel told the rally, recalling in his remarks: “[President Donald] Trump took up [the Gaza issue in January]. ‘The Gaza Strip is beautiful. I will build hotels, casinos and open it to tourism. I will disperse the Palestinians to the five surrounding countries,’ he said. And, we [Turkey] are one of the countries in question”.

“[Israel’s operations in Gaza have] reached a point where, after the genocide, they are carrying out deportations and sweeping the area,” he added.

A declaration, but no results

Ozel in his comments turned to Erdogan’s visit earlier this week to Qatar, where he attended the Extraordinary Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League. In Qatar, Donald Trump’s ambassador to Doha was among those who spoke out against Israel’s recent assault on Palestinian Hamas officials in the city.

“They simply stated: ‘We condemn Israel’. The declaration has yielded no effective results,” Ozel said.

“[…] Erdogan pretends to criticise [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu on the Palestinian issue and remains silent about Trump, the true benefactor,” he added.

Trump pushing out Palestinians

According to Ozel, it is America’s president who is pushing out the people of Gaza and committing the genocide.

“But, what is ours [Erdogan] doing? Not only does he not open his mouth and not say a word to Trump. I'm explaining it here. Just last Saturday, in his office in Dolmabahce, Istanbul, he anonymously hosted Trump's son, junior Trump, and began negotiating with him,” Ozel said.

Anonymous businessman

The officials at Erdogan’s palace registered Trump Jr. as a businessman and did not record his name, Ozel claimed.

With Palestine “bleeding profusely”, Erdogan is dealing with President Trump's son through lobbying firms, according to Ozel.

“Where are you, Erdogan?”

“They're abandoning Palestine, our brothers and sisters in Palestine, and abandoning Palestine to Trump,” Ozel protested.

“Where are you, Erdogan? Palestine is burning, where are you? Trump is descending on Palestine. Where are you? Come to your senses, Palestine will not forgive you. You will drown in the tears of those children,” he concluded.