Turkey’s president has come out strongly against Israel’s plans to double the population of the occupied Golan Heights, saying Syria’s borders are an immutable line
In his criticism of Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he condemned plans to double the population of the Golan Heights as an attempt to “expand borders in the wake of Bashar al-Assad’s fall.”
“Protecting Syria’s territorial integrity and unified structure under all circumstances is Turkey’s unchanging line. We will never back down from this,” Erdogan said on Monday.
He further stated that “even if Israel exploits the situation, sooner or later they will have to withdraw from the land they occupy. They will be forced to do so.”
Large parts of the Golan Heights were taken by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and later annexed.