Türkiye deeply saddened by UN helplessness over Gaza conflict, says President Erdogan

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye is deeply saddened by the helplessness that the UN has shown by turning a blind eye to the brutal killing of children in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the country’s president said on Wednesday.

"No one takes a structure that disregards the brutal killing of children seriously. We are deeply saddened by this image of helplessness that the UN has fallen into,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s parliamentary group meeting in Ankara.

Türkiye’s objections to the unfair structure of the UN Security Council were again confirmed by recent news, he added, referring to how a Mideast cease-fire resolution was vetoed by one of the council’s five permanent members, a structure Türkiye has long cried foul over.

Erdogan reiterated his quotable slogan for UN reform, “The world is bigger than five,” referring to the unrepresentative nature of the UN Security Council’s five permanent, veto-wielding members.

He added that the silence over the massacre in Gaza of those who stood up for the world in the Russian war on Ukraine is the “most concrete expression of hypocrisy”

Underlining that countries outside the region are “adding fuel to the fire” in the name of supporting Israel, he said Türkiye is ready to be one of the guarantors of the Palestinian side with a humanitarian, political, and military presence.

“We propose organizing an international Palestine-Israel peace conference in which all influential actors in the region take part,” he said.

The conflict in Gaza, which has been under Israeli bombardment since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli military then launched a relentless air campaign against the Gaza Strip.

Nearly 8,000 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 6,546 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis.

Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been running out of food, water, medicines, and fuel, and aid convoys allowed into Gaza have carried only a fraction of what is needed.