Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: Turkish Presidential Press Office / Handout via Reuters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attacked the Israeli government’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank and declared that the issue of Jerusalem was a “red line” for Muslims around the world.

In a video message to Muslims in the US on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Erdogan vowed that Turkey would “not allow the Palestinian lands to be offered to anyone else.”

Turning to the question of Jerusalem, Erdogan declared that “Al Quds Al-Sharif, the holy site of three religions and our first Kiblah, is a red line for all Muslims worldwide.”

The Turkish leader claimed that “a new occupation and annexation project, which disregards Palestine’s sovereignty and international law, was put into action by Israel.”

Greeting “my American Muslim brothers and sisters” on the occasion of Eid, Erdogan said that “global cooperation” could overcome “the problems caused by diseases, various conflicts, wars, migration, racism, Islamophobia, terrorism, and poverty.”