President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned that Israel’s ongoing military operations in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon could soon target Türkiye.
“While Israel is carrying out terrorist attacks on Lebanon, it is trying every kind of provocation to draw regional countries into its fire,” Erdoğan said on Oct. 1 during his speech to reopen parliament following a two-month recess.
The president warned that Israel’s actions could extend further, eventually targeting Türkiye.
“After Lebanon, the next place [Israel] will set its eyes on, I tell you clearly, will be our homeland… [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s dreams include Anatolia,” he said.
“Whatever the cost, Türkiye will continue to stand against Israel and invite the world to this honorable stance. Türkiye will do its best to establish a humanity front.”
Erdoğan also criticized those advocating for Türkiye to remain neutral in the escalating tensions.
“We are facing an occupation network that intends to throw the entire region into fire. No one with an iota of conscience can remain silent in the face of such a massacre network,” Erdoğan said.
Erdogan had recently urged the UN to send force to stop Israel:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the United Nations General Assembly should recommend use of force if the UN Security Council fails to stop Israel’s attacks against terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon.
NATO member Turkey has denounced Israel’s devastating attack in Gaza against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and condemned its recent attacks in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah terrorists. It has halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a case at the World Court accusing it of genocide, which the Jewish state rejects.
“The UN General Assembly should rapidly implement the authority to recommend the use of force, as it did with the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, if the Security Council can’t show the necessary will,” Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.
Erdogan’s speech in the inaugural session of the Turkish Grand Assembly most likely targets the domestic audience than revealing intentions to stop Israel, or alert the Armed Forces. Since 31 March 2024 local election defeat, he and his AK Party have lagged badly in the polls vs the main opposition party CHP. AK Party’s poor poll showings are largely attributed opt soaring cost of living. Erdogan has proven himself a master of diversion, currently looking for hot and controversial topics to change the national conversation from poor economic conditions to false external threats.
He is also losing voters to ultra-Islamist New Welfare Party, which—believe it or not—is even more fundamentalist than AK Party.
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