President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan joined heads of state at an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organisaton for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. The summit, focusing on the Palestine-Israel conflict, was a highlight in Türkiye’s tireless efforts for a permanent solution to the conflict and a push for an immediate cease-fire.
Speaking to journalists while returning home, Erdoğan stressed that his country was a key actor in resolving regional crises and criticized “baby killer” Israel.
“Palestine, which fights for its very existence in the face of decades of occupation and pressure, is going through an unspeakable oppression for 36 days. Innocent civilians in Gaza lose their lives through indiscriminating heavy bombardment and are forced to leave their lands. Israel, right before the eyes of the world, commits war crimes by targeting hospitals, schools and places of worship without discrimination. They target ambulances carrying patients and the deceased and refugee camps. Western countries also watch this savagery,” he lamented.
Erdoğan said people with a conscience cannot stand silent. “Since day one, I tried to be the voice of the Palestinian cause and make the world see the massacre in Gaza. I am engaged in phone diplomacy and visit other countries to that extent,” he said.
Erdoğan stated that Türkiye has been engaged in diplomacy and dialogue since the beginning of the new stage of the conflict on Oct. 7 to ensure a humanitarian cease-fire and delivered some 230 tons of humanitarian aid to Egypt for delivery to Gaza. He noted that a large Turkish vessel was also on its way to Egypt for more aid.
The Turkish president said the international community needs to take concrete action in the face of massacres. “But once again, we see the United Nations Security Council is dysfunctional,” he said while hailing 121 countries voting yes at the Oct. 27 session of the U.N. General Assembly for a cease-fire and unconditional humanitarian aid delivery.
“I find it valuable that the majority of the international community adopted this approach. To ensure it, the Islamic world should be one voice. I stressed it at Saturday’s summit. I highlighted that the OIC, whose original purpose of foundation was the Palestinian cause, has a great responsibility. I told the summit and my counterparts I met on the sidelines of the summit that any steps would not be lasting unless the Palestinian issue is fully resolved,” he said. He added that the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestine state with East Jerusalem as its capital was key to permanent peace in the region.
“I noted that everyone should make a contribution to ensure it,” he said.
Erdoğan voiced his appreciation for Egypt under the leadership of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for keeping the Rafah border crossing with Gaza open. He said they confirmed plans to remain in touch.
“As Türkiye, we renewed our commitment to a solution and taking responsibility as a guarantor country,” he said.
“We will do what we can do to stop bloodshed, in coordination with our friends in the OIC,” he stated.
Erdoğan acknowledged that the OIC used to limit its action to condemning such crises in the past and states used to abstain from taking steps for various reasons. “But this time, we had a clear picture, and Türkiye’s proposals made it to the joint declaration of the summit. We now have a declaration containing a myriad of actions and things that have not been said before, such as the recognition of (Israeli illegal) settlers as terrorists, a declaration that generated a geostrategy. For the first time, we proposed a nuclear nonproliferation conference, given Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons,” he said.
The declaration "condemned the hateful, extremist and racist acts and statements made by ministers in the Israeli occupation government, including the threat by one of the ministers to use nuclear weapons against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, being a serious threat to global peace and security, which requires supporting the conference to establish a zone free of nuclear weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, held within the framework of the United Nations and its objectives to confront this threat."
The issue of denuclearization is very significant in terms of revealing which actors are supporting Israel, Erdoğan told journalists. "Now, it is of great importance that both the OIC and the Arab League came together and took this step (resolution) because this is the first time in the history of the two organizations that such a meeting took place," he added.
Last Sunday, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, told Israeli media that dropping a "nuclear bomb" on the Gaza Strip was "an option." Though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from the statement and, according to media reports, suspended Eliyahu from Cabinet meetings until further notice, Eliyahu's statement caused an international uproar because it was seen as admitting Tel Aviv possesses nuclear weapons and can use them against any country.
Erdoğan said progress was also made regarding the delivery of aid in the declaration’s final text. “For instance, there was a call for breaking the blockade of Gaza for delivery of aid. Some member states inquired whether all actions mentioned in the declaration would be fulfilled. We told them that we need words to be written first to be followed by action. This declaration will be a reference for any country looking to do something. More importantly, the West will see that our distance from them grows because of their stance on the Palestine issue. (French President Emmanuel) Macron, for instance, has started to change his rhetoric. He visited Israel and voiced his support to them but when he saw that the number of deaths increased and the size of the massacre grew, he started to develop a policy against it,” he said.
“This was not a summit where people convened, talked and went their separate ways. On the contrary, we have a list of actions that will be carried out,” Erdoğan said.
On a question about Türkiye’s road map for a solution to the conflict, Erdoğan said they were working on various aspects, such as convincing the 40 countries that abstained from a vote on an immediate cease-fire at the U.N. General Assembly to vote in favor. “We are planning to concentrate our diplomatic efforts on this matter. For example, Hungary is among the countries that abstained from the vote. We are wondering whether we can persuade them,” he said.
He added that he would be more engaged in phone diplomacy after the summit and would host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Nov. 28. “I believe we can convince countries that supported Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. They cannot remain silent about the killings of thousands of people. In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, we did not discriminate against any side and even mediated grain deals to Africa and Europe. Now it is the turn of those countries supporting Ukraine to raise their voice (for Palestine),” he said.
Erdoğan noted that first lady Emine Erdoğan would also host a meeting of first ladies in Türkiye on Nov. 15 on the issue. He said he would visit Germany on Nov. 17 and convey “messages” to the West. “Germany is the most powerful country in Europe and our messages will definitely be heard,” he said.
Erdoğan said he would also visit Algeria and said Algeria was a country with influence in Africa and could pave the way for convincing more African countries to adopt a stance for the resolution of the Palestine-Israel conflict.
He also pointed out that the European Union has failed in the face of Israel’s massacres and lamented the absence of a clear stance against Israel from EU members. “I wonder where Germany stands and will have a chance to see it in my Germany visit,” he said.
“The EU views Hamas as a terrorist group just like Israel did. We don’t view Hamas as such and will never do so. Hamas is a political party. They (the EU) want us to recognize it as a terrorist group. No, they are not. They are people fighting for their lands,” he said.
“All heads of state, including leaders of Muslim countries, marched together in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo incident. But they don’t raise their voice now despite some 13,000 people being killed in Gaza. This is because those who died in Gaza are Muslims. Those killed in Paris were the French,” he said.
“For us, people dying are people, not people of this religion or that religion. Don’t you see children are dying? You see parents kissing their dead children. You see bodies of children lined on the ground before their burial. You see mothers embracing the bodies of their children. These should move your conscience,” he said.
Erdoğan reiterated that everyone knows Türkiye is a key country in the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean and in the wider region. “Making plans despite Türkiye’s objections in this region is impossible. Everybody knows our clear stand, our principles and our values. We work to protect people’s lives, to ensure peace, end conflicts and wipe the tears of the innocent. We have solutions for every conflict and we offer them to anyone willing to listen. Our door is open to anyone valuing our stand. We always talk to anyone contacting us for a sincere solution, and we will continue working to save the dignity of humankind. Türkiye is the only country offering the most applicable solutions,” he said, noting that Türkiye was the only nation with contacts in every country in the region and could bring warring sides to the table in conflicts.
“We have to hold talks with the Gulf countries, with Egypt to exert pressure on the United States so that it can exert pressure on Israel,” he said, noting Gulf countries’ relations with the West can help press Israel to stop the bloodshed.
On comments on whether this will be a "religious" war, a war of the “crescent and cross,” Erdoğan assured that would not be the case. “Because this is a war of good and evil, lies and truth, oppressor and the oppressed,” he said.
“I believe, in the end, the good, people siding with the truth, the oppressed and their defenders, in other words, Palestinians, will win,” he said.
Referring to his confrontation with then-Israeli President Shimon Peres at a Davos summit years ago over Israel’s atrocities toward Palestinians, Erdoğan said that he was continuing to take steps to raise the voice of ignored Palestinians.
Erdoğan famously accused Israel of killing children during a panel where he was sitting next to Peres. “With its latest Gaza attacks, Israel lost international public support. Though their administrations embrace Israel for their imperialist interests, people of most countries view Israel as a country murdering babies,” he said.
