RAMALLAH, West Bank — On June 24, the Israeli police and a team from the Jerusalem Municipality demolished a stone plaque bearing the Turkish flag and the emblem of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in Jerusalem. The stone plaque had been placed there to mark Turkey’s contribution to a restoration project for the city’s Yusufiye Cemetery.

Yusufiye Cemetery, which is affiliated with the Islamic Waqf and adjacent to the Old City wall, is well known in Jerusalem and hundreds of years old. It was restored with the support of Turkey via TIKA, but Israeli police claim that no license was issued for the plaque to be placed.

TIKA’s media office told Al-Monitor, “Turkish stone plaques were illegally taken off the wall of Yusufiye Cemetery, which the agency has restored. This shows that the Turkish efforts for peace and prosperity in the region are arousing discomfort.” It stressed that all of the agency’s activities are carried out “with the permission and approval of the countries it cooperates with, and all necessary procedures were respected in the Yusufiye Cemetery restoration works that were completed in 2015, upon the request and in cooperation with the local authorities.”

TIKA added that it will “continue to deploy efforts to protect the historical monuments in Jerusalem for future generations and add value to the region. The efforts made by those who seek to malign the Turkish institutions’ activities in Palestine will not succeed.”  It explained, “In order to prevent such an unfortunate and illegal act from happening [again] at Yusufiye Cemetery, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and office in the region will follow the official diplomatic and legal procedures.”