2023-10-29 00:50:57
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a rally in support of the Palestinians, in Istanbul, October 28, 2023. EMRAH GUREL / AP
In front of several hundred thousand people, gathered on the tarmac of the former Atatürk airport, in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan donned, Saturday October 28, his favorite uniform, that of the champion of the Palestinian cause and the street Arab. Traditional checkered scarf around his neck, microphone in hand and without notes, the head of state for almost fifty minutes relentlessly accused, on the eve of the centenary of the Turkish Republic, the West of be “the main culprit of the massacres in Gaza” and Israel to commit “war crimes”.
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A tone and a posture which are not without echoing those he adopted in 2009, at the Davos forum, where, following weeks of negotiations in the region, he overturned the table with his “outburst of anger” once morest Shimon Peres, following the IDF launched Operation “Cast Lead” once morest Hamas.
After recalling the extent of the Ottoman Empire and the fact that “Gaza was [alors] integral part of the homeland »Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed that Hamas does not“was not a terrorist organization”. “When I said this, Israel was troubled, added the Turkish president. I knew it, and I said it knowingly. »
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In his own style, asking and answering the questions himself, the Head of State made a point of sharply challenging Western capitals and Israeli leaders: “How was the situation in 1947 [juste avant la création de l’Etat d’Israël en 1948] ? How did you get here? You are an invader. The West owes you, but Turkey owes you nothing, which is why we are speaking to you like this. Western countries come to visit you and ask for forgiveness. We are on the side of the oppressed. » President Erdogan added: “With the exception of a few consciences who raised their voices, these massacres [à Gaza] are entirely the work of the West. »
“Turkey will be the hope of the oppressed”
In a more serious tone, he continues: “You mourned the civilians killed in Ukraine, why this silence in the face of the children killed in Gaza? O West: do you want to create a new atmosphere of crusades once morest the crescent? »emblem of the Muslim religion. “Everyone knows that Israel cannot take a step without them”he continued, reproaching the great Western powers for not having called for a ceasefire.
Assuring that 1.5 million people attended the meeting, he continued: “Israel, we will declare you before the whole world a war criminal, you are the occupiers, you are the invaders”. And then this: “Of course, every country has the right to defend itself, but where is justice? What is happening in Gaza is not self-defense, but massacre. » Before concluding : “Israel’s oppression will surely end one day. Turkey will be the hope of the oppressed, just as it was for five hundred years and during the Second World War. »
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