Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan has signed a joint declaration to prevent children in Gaza from being deprived of their right to education in the wake of ongoing Israeli genocide in the Palestinian enclave.
Emine Erdogan accompanied President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Extraordinary Joint Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on September 15, and met with Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mother of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, within the scope of the summit.
After the summit, the Education Above All Foundation, founded by Nasser, prepared a joint statement, "A grave year for the education of children living in conflict zones.”
The declaration called for urgent action to end the ongoing violations against children and education systems in crisis areas, especially in Gaza.
“In addition, carrying out a genocide in Gaza, Israel simultaneously resorts to an ‘educational massacre’, with deliberate and total destruction of the Palestinian education system, libraries and universities,” the declaration said.
In the declaration, which stated that the actions in question were part of a deliberate tactic to destroy and erase the intellectual, cultural and social life of Gaza.
"Today, we join the movement to end this genocide and pledge to continue our work to provide educational opportunities and help children recover," the statement said.
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Heritage, and several others, including the Malaysian First Lady, also signed the declaration.
