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Turkey\u2019s Erdogan calls Israel a \u2018terror state\u2019, criticises the West | Israel-Palestine conflict News<\/p>\n
Turkish president sharpens criticism of Israel and its allies and calls for Israeli officials to be tried for war crimes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called Israel a \u201cterror state\u201d, stepping up his condemnation of the Israeli assault on the besieged Gaza Strip ahead of a sensitive visit to Germany.<\/p>\n Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel\u2019s military campaign against the Palestinian armed group Hamas included \u201cthe most treacherous attacks in human history\u201d with \u201cunlimited\u201d support from the West.<\/p>\n He called for Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and repeated his view \u2013 and Turkey\u2019s position \u2013 that Hamas is not a \u201cterrorist organisation\u201d but a political party that won the last Palestinian legislative elections held in 2006.<\/p>\n \u201cI say clearly that Israel is a terror state,\u201d Erdogan told members of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we curse the Israeli administration, we do not forget those who openly support these massacres and those who go out of their way to legitimise them,\u201d he said, pointing to the United States and other Western allies of Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are faced with a genocide,\u201d Erdogan added.<\/p>\n He called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether Israel has nuclear weapons and added that Netanyahu would soon be a \u201cgoner\u201d from his post.<\/p>\n Ankara would take steps to ensure Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territories are recognised as \u201cterrorists\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n Netanyahu, speaking at an event in Israel, said he will not be \u201cmorally lectured\u201d by the Turkish leader, saying Erdogan supports \u201cthe terrorist state Hamas\u201d.<\/p>\n The Turkish leader had taken a more nuanced line immediately after Hamas launched attacks on southern Israel on October 7. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 240 people taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.<\/p>\n But Erdogan\u2019s rhetoric has escalated as the scale of Israel\u2019s military response has grown.<\/p>\n Health officials in the Hamas-run territory said more than 11,300 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than 4,000 children.<\/p>\n Turkey this month recalled its ambassador to Israel and broke off official contacts with Netanyahu, suspending recent attempts by the two countries to repair their rocky relations.<\/p>\n Israel has also said it is \u201cre-evaluating\u201d relations with Ankara after calling back its diplomatic staff from Turkey and other countries in the region as a security precaution.<\/p>\n Erdogan made his comments two days before a planned meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has been forced to defend his decision to receive the Turkish leader.<\/p>\n Germany has backed Israel, and Scholz said he is opposed to an \u201cimmediate ceasefire\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the calls for an immediate ceasefire or long pause \u2013 which would amount to the same thing \u2013 are right,\u201d Scholz said on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would mean ultimately that Israel leaves Hamas the possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles,\u201d he added, echoing the position of the US government and calling instead for \u201chumanitarian pauses\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631<\/a>
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