Palestine Panel and Calligraphy Auction - Opening Speech

29 November 2023

Esteemed MÜSİAD Family,

Distinguished guests,

Esteemed members of the press,

Welcome, all of you, to our Palestine Panel and our Auction of Calligraphy Works.

This evening, together with a very meaningful gathering, God willing we will also be the occasion for a very meaningful act of charity. While at our panel we once again emphasize the just cause of Palestine in a historical sense, with the auction to be held immediately after our panel we will, God willing, compete with one another in doing good, all the proceeds being transferred to the oppressed people of Palestine…

God Almighty commands as follows in verse 148 of Surah al-Baqarah:

“Everyone has a direction to which he turns. (O believers!) So compete with one another in good works. Wherever you may be, in the end God will bring you all together. Surely God has power over all things.”

Esteemed guests,

Most valued MÜSİAD Family,

As we all know, a great human tragedy has been unfolding in Gaza for the last two months. Israel is carrying out a great massacre without regard for any target, without distinguishing between women, children and the elderly…

The civilian settlements, places of worship, hospitals and educational institutions in Gaza have been razed to the ground. The infrastructure system has been destroyed… People’s electricity and water have been cut off… People are wounded, without food and without water…

And the worst of all this is that not a single strong voice is being raised in the international community about this massacre… We are living through days in which humanity is being put to the test.

As MÜSİAD, we stand by the oppressed people of Palestine, who have been left alone and by themselves… Because the loneliness of Palestine is the loneliness of all humanity…

As MÜSİAD, we will continue to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people against Israel’s attacks in all national and international arenas. The Palestinian cause is for us a cause of civilization. This cause lies under the shared responsibility of all Muslims and of all humanity. For this reason, we once again invite all civil society organizations, the business world and media organizations in Türkiye and in the international community to be sensitive on this matter.

As the MÜSİAD Family, we have always stood with the oppressed. We will continue to do so from now on as well. We are making our preparations for the needs that have arisen after the massacres in Gaza. Together with our members and the organizations with which we cooperate, we will stand strongly beside our Palestinian brothers and sisters.

In this process, as MÜSİAD, with our more than 14,000 members, we will carry out our aid to Gaza through the intermediation of civil society organizations operating for humanitarian aid purposes, such as the Turkish Red Crescent, İHH and the Sadakataşı Association.

We wish a swift recovery to the people of Palestine; we pray for God’s mercy upon those who have been martyred and for patience for their relatives and for all Muslims. With God’s help, we believe that the Palestinian people will be delivered from oppression and will achieve victory in their just cause.

Dear friends,

We must always oppose with a loud voice such massacres taking place before the eyes of the whole world. We must stand as one and together beside the oppressed. Only as long as we are one and together, and as long as we are strong, can we stand upright against injustice beside the oppressed… Only in this way can we make our struggle stronger.

What will make us strong is, above all, our being “one and together”. Not you, me, him; only if we become “We” can we bring out our own strength. Only if we become “we” can no power stand before us, and it is we who become the true decision-makers.

If we are together and strong, we can intervene in the war and the human tragedy that are taking place. If we want to support our brothers and sisters in Palestine, we must be strong. In short, we must believe in “THE POWER OF WE” and in its might…

Distinguished participants,

As MÜSİAD, we organized this panel this evening in order to support the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people against occupation, which we regard as a humanitarian and moral responsibility. At our panel we will discuss the historical processes through which the Palestinian question has passed to reach the present day, the Al-Aqsa Flood and the developments that followed it. In addition, alongside the economic relations between Türkiye and Palestine, we will learn about the possibilities of humanitarian aid that can be provided to the Palestinian people. I thank each and every one of our speakers who took part in our panel with their addresses.

Immediately after our panel, we will hold our Auction of Calligraphy Works. Bids may also be submitted through online participation at our calligraphy auction, all the proceeds of which will be donated to the oppressed people of Gaza. We also thank Chef Ömür Akkor, who is hosting our auction, and the calligrapher Mustafa Cemil Efe.

Esteemed guests,

I hope that our panel and our auction will be a means to good outcomes, and once again we invite all of humanity to take its place beside the oppressed people of Palestine.

I thank you very much for your participation and greet you all with respect and reverence.

May God protect you.

Mahmut Asmalı

President of MÜSİAD