UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM PRESIDENT ERDOGAN, MINOR EDITS
By Esra Tekin
ISTANBUL (AA) – Türkiye is not only ready to “put its hand but its entire body” into an effort to end the bloodshed in Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
"I say it clearly that the path the Israeli government insists on and obstinately maintains is, in fact, not a true path," Erdogan said during his address at the 15th Ambassadors’ Conference in the capital Ankara.
He said that for the past 14 months, Ankara has been stressing the need for a lasting cease-fire in Gaza.
"Security cannot be achieved by spilling more blood, by dropping more bombs on innocent civilians. This applies not only to Gaza and Palestine, but also to Syria,” he further said.
Erdogan said that humanity is living in a challenging period in which the "global system is at an impasse, the international community has lost its reflexes, and multilateral governance mechanisms have proven inadequate in producing solutions."
“International institutions and organizations responsible for maintaining peace and security, far from preventing wars and conflicts, are paving the way for new problems and conflicts with their passive stance,” he added.
Erdogan said that the crises and conflicts emerging in Eurasia and the Middle East are posing a “severe threat” to global peace and stability.
"In Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, a massacre has been ongoing for 14 months, with over 50,000 Palestinians, 70% of whom are women and children, losing their lives, and it has still not been stopped,” he added.
"The current Israeli government is making the problems in the region even more complicated, with new attacks every day,” the president said, adding: “The international community's indifference to these massacres is leading to the erosion and destruction of the fundamental legal principles and values that sustain the system.”
Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 44,800 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 last year.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.