ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Turkey will send experts to Jerusalem to inspect the works Israel is undertaking near the Temple Mount, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.
The works are at a collapsed ramp that connected the Western Wall Plaza with the mount's southwestern gate. The mount, site of the ancient Jewish temples, is the holiest site to Jews and the third holiest to Muslims who call it the al-Aqsa.
The works sparked strong protests among Muslims who claimed Israel was about to harm al-Aqsa. Erdogan had said Turkey was "disturbed and upset" over the project, the Turkish Daily News reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday. Olmert brought pictures designed to show the works are tens of meters from the mount.
Olmert has maintained, "It is not a religious matter. It is a technical matter following the collapse of the old ramp" that fell after a snowstorm and an earthquake in 2004. Israel wants to replace it with a sturdy bridge, and salvage excavations there are designed to verify the bridge's pillars will not harm archaeological findings.
The Israelis had informed Jordan and the (Islamic) Waqf that manages the Temple Mount area of its plans but did not seek their consent.
"This is our territory, our sovereignty" and cannot let the Waqf dictate what happens at the Western Wall plaza, Olmert told his Cabinet on Sunday.
Erdogan said the pictures were not enough to fully convince him Israel was right. Therefore Olmert agreed that Turkey dispatch a technical team to Jerusalem to meet the people involved, see what is done there and decide whether it harms al-Aqsa.
Such an inspection and a statement of its findings could be especially significant because Turkey now chairs the Organization of Islamic Conference, which groups 57 member states.
