UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY PRESIDENT ERDOGAN, REVISES LEDE, REVISIONS THROUGHOUT
By Esra Tekin
ISTANBUL (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “who is dragging the region and the entire world into disaster,” must be stopped from his long-standing campaign against Palestine and sowing regional unrest, declared the Turkish president on Sunday.
"This barbarian, thug, and bloodthirsty greedy named Netanyahu, who is dragging our region and the entire world into disaster, must be stopped,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a ruling Justice and Development Party evaluation and planning meeting in the capital Ankara.
Decrying the “uninterrupted” decades-long massacre in Palestine and how Palestinian children are being killed by “a spoiled state,” Erdogan said that Ankara ensured that the rest of the world saw clearly the “barbarism” in Gaza.
"Türkiye objects on every platform to the oppression, massacre and injustice that has been going on for 76 years. We stand with the Palestinian people with all our means," he added.
On the US cease-fire proposal announced on Friday, Erdogan said: “Hamas has announced its positive approach to President Biden's latest proposal, similar to its previous ceasefire proposal. Netanyahu's response, however, has been to increase the intensity of bloodshed, massacres, occupation, and genocide policies.”
The aid Türkiye has sent to Gaza continues uninterrupted, Erdogan stated, adding that they are working on multiple fronts to put more economic pressure on Israel.
"We are in close dialogue with Hamas and the Palestinian government. We strongly support efforts to recognize an independent Palestinian state. With Spain, Ireland, and Norway, the number of countries recognizing Palestine has reached 147,” he added.
Boosting recognition of Palestine will be one of the “most positive responses to Israel's occupation and oppression policies,” he said.
Mentioning that he congratulated the prime ministers of Spain, Ireland and Norway for being “on the right side of history,” Erdogan said he will visit Spain before the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday later this month.
”We are doing and will do whatever is necessary to stop the genocide network and hold it accountable to the law,” he added.
Since last Oct. 7, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas which killed some 1,200 people.
Over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its onslaught nearly eight months ago. The majority of those killed have been women and children, with more than 82,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid Israel's crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war.
- Fight against terrorism
Erdogan said that with a series of cross-border operations against terrorist nests in neighboring northern Iraq and Syria, Türkiye has thwarted plans to surround the country with a terrorist corridor, adding that there is no retreat from this.
"Türkiye cannot find peace or feel secure until the terror-producing swamps in northern Iraq and Syria are drained,” he added.