UPDATE - Turkish president says reacting to situation in Gaza 'our humanitarian duty’

CHANGES HEADLINE< UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH PRESIDENT

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) – Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said reacting to the situation in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has killed more than 36,000 people since last October, is "our humanitarian duty."

“It is our humanitarian duty to the Palestinian people to react to this insane situation, which puts our humanity and our faith to the test,” Erdogan said in address at the 8th Anatolian Media Awards ceremony in Ankara.

“We see that those who have spent years lecturing us on press freedom remain silent regarding the incidents taking place in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the president added.

“Those who play deaf, dumb, and blind towards genocide today cannot erase this black mark for the rest of their lives,” Erdogan said.

He praised Türkiye’s premier news agency Anadolu and public broadcaster TRT for their coverage of the conflict in Gaza, the blockaded enclave of 2.3 million people now turned into ruins. “Our Anadolu Agency, TRT, with their brave staff in field, have conveyed grim atrocities committed in Gaza to the entire world,” he said.

Erdogan also slammed the international media for their “double standards” over Israel's war on Gaza. "We are facing such a double standard that those who have killed 150 journalists in just eight months can still talk about press freedom. This is not just inconsistency, but also lack of conscience, principlelessness, injustice, and bias,” he added.

“Those who speak in difficult times will be acquitted not only in history but also in the conscience of humanity," he said, adding: “When we stand up for our Palestinian brothers and sisters, we stand up for humanity as a whole, for freedom, justice, and peace."

He said Türkiye, which has provided the most aid to Gaza in the last eight months and suspended trade with Israel, will continue to stand in solidarity with “the oppressed and against the oppressor.”