Erdogan urges regional peace as he meets Hamas leader in Turkey.
To date, data reveals an estimated 14,000 children have been killed in Gaza. Regarding this grim news, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of outdoing German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday that Erdogan told a Justice and Development (AK) Party group meeting in the Turkish parliament that with unconditional support from the West, Israel is carrying out massacres that are marks of shame in human history, both in Gaza and the West Bank. He said that the Palestinian cause gave his life new meaning, adding that no one can question Turkey’s sensitivity to the Palestinian issue. “As long as God grants me life, I will continue to defend the struggle of Palestine and will be the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people,” Erdogan vowed.
Erdogan further compared the struggle of Hamas to the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1922) and reminded the members of the Parliament that he had stood up for the Palestinian militant group at the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “When no one else would speak, we stood up and said: ‘Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a resistance group.’ We presented maps at the UN showing how Israel has gradually occupied the lands of Palestineover the past 70 years,” he said.
Also, during an opening speech at an award ceremony in Ankara, Erdogan said the systematic slaughter of six million Jews in the Holocaust was not as bad as Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and likened Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the Strip to that of Jews rounded up in concentration and death camps. “We’ve seen the Nazi camps of Israel. How does this happen? They used to talk about Hitler, but how are you any different than Hitler?” he asked of Israel. “This is even worse than Hitler,” he added and received deafening applause. “What Netanyahu is doing is no less than what Hitler did.”
On the same day, Netanyahu responded to the Turkish leader, saying Erdogan has no right to lecture Israel about morality. “Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last one who can preach morality to us,” the Israeli leader said.
Israel and Turkey were long-time regional allies but ties imploded after a 2010 Israeli commando raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship, part of a blockade-busting flotilla, that left 10 Turkish activists dead. Relations between the two nations have been up and down since then and they only restored full diplomatic ties in August 2022.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has estimated that 85 percent of the Gaza residents have been internally displaced and face acute shortages of food, water and medication, while more than half of the infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. A recent report by UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur Francesca Albanese has accused Israel of intending to commit genocide in the enclave. (Related: LIES: U.S. asserts no genocide was committed in Gaza amid violent Israeli military campaign.)
Erdogan urges regional peace as he meets Hamas leader in Turkey
Efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and to reach a fair and lasting peace in the region were tackled during a meeting between Erdogan and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul on Saturday. This meeting, which took place amid escalating regional tensions following Israel’s reported attack on Iran this week, has been the first meeting of the two leaders since Israel began its military offensive in the enclave.
“Issues related to Israel’s attacks on lands of Palestine, particularly Gaza, efforts for adequate and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a fair and lasting peace process in the region were discussed,” Erdogan said in a statement. The statement also indicated that the Turkish president stressed that Israel should not benefit from the developments (between Iran and Israel) and that it is important to make efforts that will draw attention to Gaza again.
During their talk, Erdogan told Haniyeh that Turkey continues its diplomatic efforts for a permanent ceasefire as well as the establishment of an independent state of Palestine. He also told Haniyeh that “it is vital for Palestinians to act in unity,” the statement said.
Palestinian militant group Hamas seized control in Gaza in 2007, a year after sweeping elections, following a brief civil war with Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces, reducing the PA’s rule to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Efforts to reconcile the two sides have so far failed over thorny power-sharing issues.
Read more stories about Israel’s violent attacks in Gaza, killing mostly women and children at Genocide.news.
