Erdogan threatens that Turkey could intervene in Gaza war

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has yesterday/Sunday threatened that his country could intervene militarily against Israel in the war in Gaza. “Just as we entered Nagorno-Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we can do something similar to them,” Erdogan said at a meeting of his party AKP in the city of Rize on the Black Sea. Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz reacted sharply, stating that “Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein” by threatening to attack Israel.

In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Erdogan amongst others supported Azerbaijan with drones. In civil war-torn Libya, Ankara supports the internationally recognised government with military equipment and personnel.

In his speech on Sunday, Erdogan praised the progress in Turkey's defence industry, saying that “there is nothing we cannot do”. “We need to be very strong so that Israel cannot do these ridiculous things to Palestine,” he added.

Relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated drastically since the start of the war in Gaza. Erdogan described Islamist Hamas as a “liberation organization” and compared Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

Reaction Israel

Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz hit back with a statement on X, the former Twitter. ““Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel. Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended,” Katz wrote.

In 2003, US troops invaded Iraq. The military operation led to the fall of then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Three years later, Hussein was executed, partly because of his involvement in the persecution of Kurds and Shiites under his regime.

_{Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech in Ankara in May 2024 © BELGA PHOTO Depo Photos/ABACAPRESS.COM}
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