A sister city agreement signed between Turkey’s popular holiday resort of Antalya and the Israeli coastal city of Bat Yam in 1997 has been canceled by the Turkish side in protest of the ongoing Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, the Birgün daily reported.
The decision was made by the city council of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) during its meeting on Monday. The council, comprising members from various political parties, voted unanimously to cancel the agreement dated November 26, 1997.
A statement from the municipality said all current and future relations with the Bat Yam have been halted due to the “ongoing inhumane attacks by Israel on the people of Gaza before the eyes of the world.”
The mayor of Antalya thanked the members of the city council for their decision.
The cancellation of the sister city agreement with the Israeli city is the latest in a series of acts of protest in Turkey against Israel caused by its war on Gaza. Anti-Israel sentiment has been running high, with many boycotting Israeli and pro-Israel international companies due to their alleged support for the war on Gaza.
The sister city agreement between Antalya and Bat Yam was proposed during visit by then-president Süleyman Demirel to Israel in 1996 in the hopes that it would help develop tourism and trade between the two countries.
According to the Sister Cities International website, a sister city, county or state relationship is a broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries. A relationship is officially recognized after the highest elected or appointed official from both communities sign off on an agreement to become sister cities.
Along with Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the CHP has been criticizing Israel due to its ongoing attacks on Gaza which it launched following an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants in Israel on October 7 that left some 1,200 people dead.
Gaza’s health ministry reported on Monday that the Palestinian death toll due to ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has climbed to 31,112.
CHP leader Özgül Özel said last month that he plans to pay a visit to Palestine in April to attract attention to the tragedy unfolding there, adding that he thinks the solution to the ongoing conflict lies in the establishment of an independent state of Palestine on the basis of its 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.