UPDATE- How can UN protect others when it cannot defend its own staff?: Turkish president

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH PRESIDENT

By Muhammed Enes Calli

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye's president on Tuesday asked how the UN can defend the rights of others amid Israel's attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, when it is unable to protect the rights of its own personnel.

"We have followed with embarrassment as the UN Security Council and international organizations have been completely powerless in the face of Israel's impudence," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the Global Diplomacy and Future of Palestine conference in Ankara.

"How much longer will the UN Security Council stand by and watch our region turn into a sea of blood, with civilians in Gaza being burned alive?" he said.

"Unable to break the hands reaching out to a soldier wearing a blue helmet with 'UN' written on it, how will the UN prevent the dirty hands reaching out to the people of Gaza and Lebanon?," Erdogan asked.

"We witnessed how the human rights organizations and global media outlets play the role of three monkeys when it comes to the rights of innocent children killed in Gaza," he added.

Erdogan also said that Palestinians have been enduring this oppression for decades while Israel has perpetuated its policies of occupation, destruction and execution uninterrupted for 76 years.

"We can predict where this expansionism will lead if Israel, which is becoming increasingly arrogant and aggressive, is not stopped," he added.

"After Gaza, Israel's genocidal policies are now extending to Lebanon and have served as an opportunity for humanity to recognize the true face of Zionism," said the Turkish president.

"In this process, we have all closely witnessed how the Zionist lobby controls global powers and the system, how it exerts pressure on the economy, trade, media, the film industry, all branches of art, academia, universities, and even the state, military, and civil bureaucracy in some countries."

Israel killed with bombs the people whose lives they could not take by leaving them hungry, thirsty, without food, medicine, doctors and hospitals since Oct. 7, 2023, he said.

Despite great suffering, this process will result in establishment of the Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, he added.

International community and the Islamic world must do more to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza before winter, he said.

In Gaza and Lebanon, not only children, women, elderly, and civilians are dying, but the conscience of humanity is also dying, he added.

"Türkiye is the only state that has shown strongest reaction to the massacre in Gaza, and has taken concrete measures against Israel," the president said.

"Despite all challenges, we stand firmly with the Palestinian people who heroically defend their homeland, and we will continue to do so," Erdogan said.

"Türkiye is the country that has delivered the most humanitarian aid to Gaza, with over 84,000 tons of assistance," he said, adding: "We will remain unwavering in struggle until an independent and sovereign Palestinian state is established based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital."

- 'By attacking Lebanon, Israel shows it will not be satisfied with occupying Gaza'

Erdogan stressed that Israel, which has continuously expanded its occupation since the Nakba, has now seized 85% of the 27.000 square km of Palestinian territory.

"Since then, Israel has made Palestinians refugees in their homeland and forced millions of Palestinians to migrate from their homes and homeland," he added.

He added that the number of Palestinians exiled during the Nakba alone is nearly 1 million.

"Today, there are more than 6 million Palestinian refugees around the world, a significant portion of whom are in Jordan, longing to return to their homes and are even keeping the keys to the homes they were forced out of."

With the construction of the separation wall in 2002, Israel has institutionalized the apartheid regime in the Palestinian territories, said the Turkish president.

"Millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank are no longer able to travel to many areas of Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, because of the separation wall," Erdogan said.

Before Oct. 7, Gaza had already been under blockade for 17 years, and over 2 million Gazans were condemned to live in an open-air prison for 17 years, he added.

"In fact, the Palestinian people were not the only victims of Israel's racist and fascist policies. Jews of different backgrounds, especially Jews of African descent, also face apartheid practices," the president noted.

By attacking Lebanon, Israel demonstrated it will not be satisfied with occupying Gaza, Erdogan said.

"Netanyahu's Cabinet members are revealing their true intentions, where their eyes are set, and how far they wish to extend their occupation policies with every new statement they make," he maintained.

- 'Türkiye will stand firmly with Palestinians'

Erdogan said that they sincerely support every effort made to hold war and genocide criminals accountable, reminding that they submitted an application to intervene in the genocide case opened by South Africa at the International Court of Justice on Aug. 7.

Stating that civil society organizations continue to present files and evidence to the court, Erdogan emphasized that they are doing everything possible and will continue to do so to ensure that the genocidal criminals are held accountable under international law.

"Our nation is reacting to the massacre with boycotts and protests. We stand and will stand firmly with the Palestinian people who heroically defend their homeland despite all odds," he said.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,542 people, injuring over 4,555 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people. It also began a ground invasion earlier this month.

The campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed more than 42,000 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.