Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed that his country “firmly” supports the leaders of the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas), and that it will do everything necessary to hold Israeli officials accountable for the massacres committed in the Gaza Strip.
The Turkish President said, in a speech during an event in Istanbul on Saturday: “No one can push us to classify (Hamas) as a terrorist organization… Turkey is the country that speaks openly with the leaders of (Hamas) about everything clearly and easily, and stands behind them firmly and strongly.” ».
Erdogan described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as one of “the Nazis of our time through the crimes against humanity he committed in Gaza,” saying that “Netanyahu and his government added their names alongside Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, as the Nazis of our time.”
He said that his country has invested in its relations with Egypt, which have recently developed, to deliver aid to Gaza, and has sent a total of 40,000 tons of humanitarian aid so far, via 19 planes and 7 ships.
He criticized the position of international institutions regarding what is happening in Gaza, saying: “We have all seen and experienced how international institutions, human rights organizations, and media institutions are useless when it comes to Israel.”
Erdogan expressed his regret that the Islamic world, with a population of about two billion people, was unable to fully carry out its duty of brotherhood towards the Palestinian people.
In the same context, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that during his talks with the American side, within the framework of the meetings of the strategic mechanism for relations between the two countries that were held on Thursday and Friday in Washington, he discussed ways to stop the bloodshed at the hands of Israel in Gaza.
He added that some Western countries and institutions “were forced to take steps in light of the environment of pressure and diplomatic follow-up created by a group of countries, including Turkey.”
Fidan stated, in statements to a group of Turkish journalists in Washington, on Friday-Saturday night, that he stressed the need for the international community to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza as soon as possible, as the humanitarian tragedy worsens and the conditions deteriorate to an unbearable degree, especially in recent months.
He said that there is a consensus on the necessity of a ceasefire, whether it is humanitarian, as some say, or permanent and without interruption, as others, such as Turkey, say, and the entry of humanitarian aid, stopping the killing of civilians as soon as possible, and implementing the two-state solution.
Fidan added: “Not only the ceasefire, but also the implementation of the two-state solution in parallel with that. Almost the whole world now agrees on this matter.”
He pointed out that the US administration’s intention to establish a temporary port in Gaza was the result of reactions at the level of international public opinion, and stated that many countries felt compelled to do something.
Fidan said, “The deliberate killing of more than 30,000 innocent civilians in Gaza now represents a new level of injustice, and therefore its continuation will cause a crisis in the global system and explosions in the region. This is an unequivocal fact, and countries must act accordingly.”
In parallel, a Turkish court decided to imprison 6 people on charges of selling information they obtained inside Turkey to the Israeli intelligence (Mossad), out of 7 who were arrested in a security operation in Istanbul, last Tuesday.
The court decided to release one person and subject him to judicial supervision.
Initial investigations revealed that the suspect, Hamza Turhan Ayberk, a former security director, communicated with the Mossad through a woman named Victoria.
It turned out that Ayberk, who appeared several times on talk shows on Turkish channels as a security expert, worked as an “informant” for the Mossad, using in his activities a group of government employees among whom he formed a network in exchange for money.
Aybark and 5 others were arrested, and the seventh suspect was released and subjected to surveillance.
ظهرت في الأصل على aawsat.com