Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced today that he is canceling all plans to visit Israel, despite the two countries' recent rapprochement.
"We had plans to visit Israel, but they fell through. We will not go," he said to the Justice and Development Party parliamentary group, accusing Israel of taking advantage of Turkey's good intentions.
Tayyip Erdogan met with the Prime Minister of Israel on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September in New York.
“I shook this man's hand, we had good intentions, but he took advantage of us. Relations could be different, but that will not happen anymore, unfortunately," he said, while his party's MPs chanted "Down with Israel!", "Allah Akbar!".
"You will not find any state whose army behaves with such inhumanity," he said, referring to Israeli attacks on Gaza in retaliation for a bloody attack by Hamas on October 7.
BREAKING — Erdogan says Hamas isn't a terror group but a patriotic organization that defends its territories and people.
• "They are the warriors (mujahids)" he says. "We are not indebted to Israel. But the West is.”
• “I won't visit Israel”
- Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 25, 2023
Referring to the Hamas organization, he said that it is not a terrorist organization, but "a group of liberators who protect their land."
In his furious speech, Erdogan called for an immediate ceasefire and said Muslim countries must take action for lasting peace, attacking Western powers "who shed tears for Israel and do nothing else", slamming "their inability to brake Israel".
"The fact that those who mobilized the world in favor of Ukraine have not spoken about the massacres in Gaza is the most blatant witness of their hypocrisy," he said. "As long as innocent people continue to die in Gaza, no ship or aircraft sent to our region will bring peace."
Erdogan called for the establishment of an "independent Palestine" and the organization of a conference between Israel and the Palestinians, proposing Turkey as a "guarantor" of any future deal.
The Rafah crossing gate must remain open for humanitarian aid to enter, while "prisoner exchanges" must be urgently agreed, the Turkish president also said.
Expressing sadness at the United Nations' "inability" to reach an agreement on Israel's bombing of Gaza, Erdogan called for reform of the UN, and in particular the Security Council, to make it more "inclusive."
Source: RES-EAP