The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) hosted the “Gaza Symposium: Media and Society” in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş was among the speakers of the event. In her speech, Göktaş hailed the United Nations Security Council’s demand for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza as a positive step to end the massacre in the Palestinian enclave. “We hope humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza as soon as possible and Israel implements this decision,” she said.
On the symposium that delved into the rights of Palestinian women and children and how their plight was covered by the media, Göktaş said the whole world remained silent about this fact. She thanked the participants for raising their voices against inhumane savagery in Gaza.
Göktaş said standing with Palestinians was a historic responsibility and they would never back down from their determined stance to keep the genocide of Palestinians on the global agenda and to work to end it.
SETA General Coordinator Burhanettin Duran said in a speech that 1.1 million people in Gaza faced hunger, a disaster caused by Israel, “a man-made catastrophe.”
Duran pointed out that Israel’s two innocent targets in Gaza were children and women. He said the international community had a difficult task ahead to prevent it, to ensure a cease-fire and immediate delivery of humanitarian aid. He said Gaza received only one-third of the aid it needed and more gateways should be opened for aid delivery to Gaza, which required 500 truckloads of aid daily.
He stated that concerns for “universal values, human rights” were “shelved” for Palestinians and nobody could explain them away. He said this international hypocrisy would have fallout and would further stoke hate speech, racism and radicalization as well as violence. He lamented the fact that U.S. and Western media remained quiet to the cries of Gaza.
