Erdogan: Thessaloniki was taken away from us

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul to lament the loss of Ottoman Empire territories, which he said were "as much a part of us as our blood, our life and our love."

Noting that Gaza, now besieged by Israeli forces looking to avenge the murderous incursion of Hamas into their country, was once a part of the Ottoman Empire, Erdogan "was equating cities in Greece, Macedonia, Syria, Iraq, & Palestine to Turkish cities, claiming they were forcibly taken away from Turkish homeland," journalist Abdullah Bozkurt tweeted.

Bozkurt linked a video where Erdogan, besides Gaza, also referred to Aleppo, Mosul,  Skopje and Thessaloniki as once "inseparable parts of the homeland's territory."

"They separated us from all these lands that are as much a part of us as our blood, our life and our love," Erdogan said.

"At this...