Türkiye working to establish lasting world peace, says first lady

By Orhan Onur Gemici

ANKARA (AA) — Türkiye considers all innocents of the world as being entrusted to it and is working to establish lasting peace, the country's first lady Emine Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"Just like our ancestors, we have no other goal but to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, Ukraine, Jerusalem, Yemen, Baghdad, Aleppo, and Damascus," Erdogan said in the capital Ankara, speaking at an exhibition of letters written by prisoners of war and entrusted to the Turkish Red Crescent.

On Israel's ongoing attacks in the Gaza Strip, she said the blockaded Palestinian enclave's communication with the rest of the world had been "totally cut off before the eyes of the humanity in the 21st century."

"Hospitals, ambulances, the warehouses of the Red Crescent and Red Cross, places of worship, and schools are being targeted. Trucks carrying aid supplies are being kept waiting at the border," said Erdogan in her address at the opening ceremony of the event, titled "Centennial Inheritance-Turkish Red Crescent Prisoner of War Letters."

"Ships that we turned into field hospitals are being blocked from approaching the shore and from providing medical services," she added.

The ongoing attacks on Gaza amount to an unprecedented "savagery," said the Turkish first lady, adding that the Israeli military, "equipped with advanced technology, is trying to wipe out a nation from history by systematically attacking the civilians, particularly the children."

"Weapons of mass destruction are being directed at innocent kids in violation of international law. Values that make humans human are being lost. International law is being trampled on," Erdogan said.

Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun also spoke at the event, underlining the directorate's efforts at combating disinformation campaigns by Israeli and Western media and politicians.

Altun said that those "conducting these disinformation campaigns are trying to condemn us to a cycle of black propaganda and lies."

Israel's "atrocities, massacres and attempted genocide" in Gaza are a reflection of a historical order of oppression and plunder, he added.

"The Israeli occupation industry, encouraged and supported by the Western colonial order throughout the 20th century, has now become a threat not only to peace in region but also the world."

"Today, Israel is killing babies, children, women, and the elderly in its attacks, targeting healthcare workers, journalists, civil society volunteers, UN staff, and raining bombs upon them," said Altun.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas a month ago.

At least 10,328 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,237 children and 2,719 women, according to the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave. Nearly 1,600 Israelis have also been killed in the conflict.