Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a meeting with members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, on October 25, 2023. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Portal THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVES acquire license rights
- Erdogan is intensifying his criticism of Israel and its Western supporters
- Calls for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza
- Claims Hamas is a “liberation group,” cancels planned trip to Israel
- Erdogan’s comments are condemned by Israel
ANKARA, Oct 25 (Portal) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was not a terrorist organization but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian land, in his harshest comments yet on the Gaza conflict.
NATO member Turkey condemned the civilian deaths caused by the Hamas rampage in southern Israel on October 7, but also called on Israeli forces to exercise restraint in their response. Ankara has sharply criticized the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a struggle to protect their land and their people,” he told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, using an Arabic word that describes those who fight for their faith.
Unlike many of its NATO allies and the European Union, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and hosts members of the group on its territory. Ankara supports a two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Erdogan also criticized Western powers for supporting Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip and called for an immediate ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza and cooperation from Muslim countries to end the violence.
“The perpetrators of the massacre and destruction in Gaza are those who fully support Israel,” Erdogan said. “Israel’s attacks on Gaza amount to murder and mental illness for both Israel itself and those who support it.”
Israel rejected Erdogan’s description of Hamas, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat called the group “a despicable terrorist organization.”
“Even the Turkish president’s attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his inciting words will not change the horrors that the whole world has seen,” Haiat wrote on the social media platform X.
Erdogan’s comments were also quickly rebuked by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who said they were “serious and disgusting and did not contribute to de-escalation.” He called on the Italian Foreign Minister to lodge a formal protest with Ankara.
Istanbul stocks fell 7% on Wednesday, which traders attributed to Erdogan’s comments on Hamas.
The fighting in Gaza comes at a time when Turkey is working to improve its ties with Israel after years of acrimony, with a focus on energy as an area of cooperation.
Noting that those normalization efforts are now on hold, Erdogan accused Israel of exploiting Turkey’s “good intentions” and said he had canceled a previously planned visit to Israel.
“Once in my life I shook hands with this man named Netanyahu,” Erdogan said, referring to his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last month.
“If he (Netanyahu) had continued with good intentions, perhaps our relations would have been different, but now unfortunately that will not happen either because they took advantage of our good intentions,” he added.
Erdogan accused the West of hypocrisy for failing to respond to Israel’s “deliberate massacre” in Gaza with the same decisiveness as it did to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Gareth Jones and Nick Macfie
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