President Erdoğan receives Palestinian with Down syndrome

Mohamed al-Tawil, a young Palestinian with Down syndrome, and his family were received by high-level Turkish authorities in capital Ankara on Tuesday.

Al-Tawil was detained by the Israeli forces during protests against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and then released due to the huge reaction his arrest sparked. He was later brought to Ankara to receive medical treatment in Turkey.

The al-Tawil family was received by the Minister of Culture Numan Kurtulmuş, Minister of Transport Ahmet Arslan, Minister of Health Ahmet Demircan and Minister of Family and Social Policy Fatma Sayan Kaya. They were later received by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex.

Erdoğan posted a photograph of him and Mohamed al-Tawil while they were making the “Rabia” hand gesture on his Twitter account, and wrote: “Our message to my Palestinian brother Mohamed is: Jerusalem is our red line.”

The sign of Rabia, which means four in Arabic, became a symbol of freedom, democracy, justice and legitimacy for the world’s oppressed during major protests held in Egypt against the coup of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2013. The sign is named after a large square where protests were mainly organized, the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Cairo.

President Erdoğan, addressing a Justice and Development Party meeting in Ankara on Friday, said al-Tawil, who is a guest of Turkey, wants Turkish citizenship for himself and his family.