President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at an event marking Mevlid Kandili Week at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul that the Israeli government was seeking to destabilize the region.
Erdoğan argued that Israel had resorted to various provocations first to create instability in neighboring countries and then across the region as a whole. He said the radical, occupying and annihilationist policies he described as Zionism targeted not only the stability of neighboring countries but also everyone who defends humanitarian values.
Erdoğan calls on Muslims to stand together
Erdoğan said Muslims could not move forward by relying on others and stated that they needed to be strong and deterrent to defend their rights collectively and establish peace and security in the region together.
Erdoğan said the community of the Prophet Muhammad should once again demonstrate solidarity as a closely united body, and called for Muslims to move toward the future side by side and with mutual trust. He also noted that Türkiye was working to expand its alliances and ties with the Islamic world while reducing disagreements and differences.
From Palestine to Lebanon, a picture of crisis
Erdoğan said the world was passing through a historic period in which actors and scenarios were changing, adding that the struggle between good and evil continued and that he believed the good would ultimately prevail.
Erdoğan said that a large part of the region, including Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and Somalia, had experienced crises, war and instability for years. He said children, women, older people, health workers and aid workers had been killed in populated areas.
Erdoğan said Gaza had been turned into “the world's largest children's cemetery” by Israel's policies. He stated that even kites and balloons allegedly sent from Gaza toward Israel were deemed threats and blocked.
It was also said during the speech that on August 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz threatened to increase assassination operations and expel Gaza residents from the area if kites and balloons continued to be sent from Gaza toward Israel. Israel did not announce that the kites and balloons had caused any injuries, and no Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the actions.
Call for a joint response on Gaza and Lebanon
Erdoğan said millions of people in Palestine were trying to survive under extremely harsh conditions and without basic necessities, and stated that 1.3 million people in Lebanon had been forced to leave their homes because of Israeli attacks. He also said that more than 4,000 people had been killed and more than 12,000 injured in the attacks.
Erdoğan emphasized that his opposition to Zionism's expansionist aims was not solely on behalf of Türkiye or Muslims, saying that this stance was taken on behalf of the peoples of the region and humanity regardless of religious identities.
Erdoğan said civilians had paid the price in the past for remaining silent in the face of dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot, and argued that the same mistake was being repeated in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. He said international institutions and the international community had failed to demonstrate the strong resolve needed to stop the attacks.
