Director of the Department of Religious Affairs (DRA) Mehmet Gormez delighted Turkey’s Muslims when Jerusalem was added to the itinerary of Umrah tours (the noncompulsory pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina). Gormez first announced Jerusalem’s inclusion on the tour the last week of December 2014, saying that an agreement was reached with Israel. Interestingly, negative reactions came from a small group of Palestinians.
The DRA added Jerusalem to the tour in response to heavy demand, and the first group of 149 pilgrims and five officials left Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport for Tel Aviv on April 15. Palestinian activists, charging that inclusion of Jerusalem on the Umrah tour means legitimizing Israel’s occupation, launched a campaign against the DRA decision.