UPDATE - Türkiye will not allow region to be torn apart, President Erdogan says

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM TURKISH PRESIDENT

By Muhammed Enes Calli and Zehra Nur Celik

ISTANBUL / Türkiye will not allow the region to be torn apart again with a new agreement like the Sykes-Picot Agreement that divided the Middle East, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Signed on May 16, 1916, by Britain and France, the Sykes-Picot Agreement delineated British and French spheres of influence in the Near East following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

"A sinister plan being implemented will not be limited to Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon. You don't need a prophecy to see where the ultimate goal lies," Erdogan said at Türkiye's premier technology event TEKNOFEST in the southern Turkish city of Adana.

“We know very well what the 'Promised Land' means. They are almost in a race to challenge Türkiye just 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) away,” he said.

“We are fully aware of this. With every statement and every map they share, the current Israeli administration reveals its true intentions," the Turkish president said.

He said that whenever a cease-fire, peace, and stability in the region is approached, the Israeli government carries out a provocation to sabotage the process.

“They are doing everything they can to spread the fire across the region, drowning our land in blood and tears,” Erdogan said.

“We are witnessing a state of madness that takes pleasure in killing even infants in their cradles,” he said, adding: “Despite all these realities, unfortunately, Western powers continue to provide weapons, ammunition, intelligence, and diplomatic support to this massacre network.”

“It is clear where the thousands of tons of bombs raining down on Gaza and Lebanon come from, where they are produced, and who supplies them,” the Turkish president said.

Every drop of blood spilled is equally shared by those who drop bombs and those who supply them, he added.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7.

In the year since more than 41,800 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and almost 96,800 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

In Israeli attacks in Lebanon, at least 1,947 people have since been killed, nearly 9,400 injured, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.