Status: 16.11.2023, 08:05 a.m.
By: Nadja Austel
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Shortly before his visit to Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is causing diplomatic conflicts: Israel is "constantly committing massacres" and is a "terrorist state".
Ankara/Tel Aviv – Shortly before his visit to Berlin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again sharply attacked Israel on Wednesday (15 November). Speaking to the parliamentary group of his Islamic-conservative AKP party, he described the country as a "terrorist state" and repeatedly accused the country of genocide, according to the news agencies afp and dpa.
Erdogan accused Israel of an extermination strategy against the people of Gaza City. With "boundless support from America and Western countries," the Israeli government has been committing "non-stop massacres" for 40 days, he said. He called Israel's war against the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip a conflict "between the cross and the crescent."
Two days before Berlin visit: Erdogan calls Israel a "terrorist state"
After Hamas' brutal attack on Israel on October 7, in which, according to Israeli sources, around 1200,240 people were killed and <> more were abducted to Palestinian territory, Erdogan had initially expressed himself in a more differentiated way. However, as Israeli attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip increased, the Turkish president intensified his criticism of Israel. Among other things, he accused the country of "fascism".
Shortly before his visit to Berlin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again sharply attacked Israel. (Symbolic image) © dpa
Most recently, he had also questioned Israel's legitimacy. Israel is trying to "build a state whose history goes back only 75 years and whose legitimacy is called into question by its own fascism," he said on Friday (10 November), according to dpa. Erdogan described the Islamist Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization in Israel, the US and the EU, as a "liberation organization".
Erdogan to visit Berlin despite criticism of Israel
Erdogan's remarks overshadow his planned visit to Berlin on Friday (17 November). Both the Kurdish community and the Central Council of Jews consider the date to be no longer appropriate at this point in time. There was also criticism from the Left Party and representatives of the Greens.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit then defended adherence to Erdogan's visit. Diplomacy requires talking to "uncomfortable partners," he said. A working lunch with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) at the Chancellery is planned for the appointment on Friday. Before that, President Erdogan is scheduled to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
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Israel reacts harshly to Erdogan's criticism: President of Turkey is "on the wrong side of history"
Israel accused Erdogan of supporting terrorism in response to Erdogan's remarks. "He calls Israel a terror state, but in fact supports the terror state of Hamas," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday during a meeting with U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham, president of the charity Samaritan's Purse.
Erdogan also "bombed Turkish villages in Turkey itself," Netanyahu said. What he was referring to with this statement remained unclear at first. Turkey has repeatedly taken military action against the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq, according to dpa. In northern Iraq, where the PKK has its headquarters, the Turkish military repeatedly flies air strikes.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also said on Wednesday that they would not listen to moral sermons from someone "who hosts arch-terrorists and supports terrorist organizations." Turkish President Erdogan is distorting reality and is once again on the "wrong side of history". He stands with those in Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen who have praised Hamas' terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, Cohen wrote on X, formerly Twitter. (na/dpa/afp)