Silence over massacre in Gaza of those who stood up for the world in Russian war on Ukraine is the ‘most concrete expression of hypocrisy’: Recep Tayyip Erdogan
ANKARA, Oct 25 (SABAH): Türkiye is deeply saddened by the helplessness that the United Nations has shown by turning a blind eye to the brutal killing of children in the Israel-Palestine conflict, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
“No one takes a structure that disregards the brutal killing of children seriously. We are deeply saddened by this image of helplessness that the UN has fallen into,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s parliamentary group meeting in Ankara.
Türkiye’s objections to the unfair structure of the UN Security Council were again confirmed by recent news, he added, referring to how a Mideast cease-fire resolution was vetoed by one of the council’s five permanent members, a structure Türkiye has long cried foul over.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his quotable slogan for UN reform, “The world is bigger than five,” referring to the unrepresentative nature of the UN Security Council’s five permanent, veto-wielding members.
He added that the silence over the massacre in Gaza of those who stood up for the world in the Russian war on Ukraine is the “most concrete expression of hypocrisy”
Underlining that countries outside the region are “adding fuel to the fire” in the name of supporting Israel, he said Türkiye is ready to be one of the guarantors of the Palestinian side with a humanitarian, political, and military presence.
“We propose organizing an international Palestine-Israel peace conference in which all influential actors in the region take part,” he said.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had canceled a plan to visit Israel in light of the ongoing Gaza conflict. Erdogan said that before October 7, when the conflict erupted, he had planned to visit Israel but then canceled his plans.
Saying that Türkiye has no problem with the Israeli state, Erdogan added however that Ankara would never approve of Tel Aviv committing atrocities.
The Jewish people know well that Türkiye is the only land that has been without antisemitism for centuries, he added, referring to its welcoming Jews driven out of other countries during both World War II and the Ottoman era.
All parties in the Palestine-Israel war should take their fingers off the trigger, said the Turkish president, urging an immediate cease-fire in the conflict.
Almost half of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza so far are children, showing that the aim is deliberate brutality to commit crimes against humanity, he added.
The conflict in Gaza, which has been under Israeli bombardment since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.
The Israeli military then launched a relentless air campaign against the Gaza Strip.
Nearly 8,000 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 6,546 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis.
Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been running out of food, water, medicines, and fuel, and aid convoys allowed into Gaza have carried only a fraction of what is needed.