Jewish headstones cemetery
Jewish headstones cemeteryiStock

Five teenagers have been arrested in Turkey after the country’s largest Jewish cemetery was vandalized.

The governor of Istanbul said that 81 headstones in Hasköy Cemetery were damaged on Thursday night. He described their condition as “destroyed,” according to AFP.

Leaders of Turkey’s Jewish community had earlier said that around midnight, vandals had damaged 36 graves at the cemetery.

The teenagers arrested were between the ages of 11 and 13. They are currently in police custody. An investigation is ongoing.

Turkish Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu denounced the act as a "heinous attack on Hasköy Cemetery."

"Those who try to disrupt our unity and solidarity with such provocative attacks will never be allowed," he said in a tweet.

The 600-year-old Hasköy Cemetery was previously vandalized in July 2022. In that incident 36 headstones were destroyed.