In a bid to examine human rights violations in Gaza, several Turkish lawmakers plan to pay a visit to the Palestinian city under Israeli siege, a lawmaker announced. Derya Yanık, a former family minister who now heads Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, said at a news conference that they were making preparations for the visit to see the situation on the ground.
Yanık, flanked by fellow lawmakers, said at the news conference on Tuesday that Israel has been constantly bombing the Gaza Strip for the past 18 days and targeted civilians, residential areas, marketplaces, places of worship and hospitals. She pointed out the Israeli embargo in a small patch of land where hundreds of thousands of people are crammed in, blocking access to basic humanitarian aid. “We are very concerned about this unfolding humanitarian drama where Israel adopted a stance forcing people into displacement, actions of Israel that violated all human rights and international laws and the deaths of more than 5,000 civilians, including more than 2,000 infants and children, and injuries of more than 10,000 civilians as a result of Israel’s actions,” she said.
The lawmaker emphasized Türkiye’s steady opposition to attacks targeting civilians regardless of the assailants and reason and said they prioritized the safety of Palestinian and Israeli civilians and hostages on both sides.
Israel’s attacks targeting Gaza reached a new level of brutality after it struck a hospital, killing hundreds, last week. Turkish politicians have united in their condemnation of Israel after the airstrike. In a rare display of unity, all political parties in the Turkish Parliament issued a joint statement strongly condemning Israel’s “crime against humanity.” “We are deeply saddened that hundreds of Palestinians have lost their lives and many more have been injured” by Israel’s airstrike, said the Turkish statement, signed by all political parties and groups in Parliament. “We condemn these attacks, which are crimes against humanity, in the strongest possible terms,” it said, stressing that it is closely following developments in Palestine and Israel.
“We deplore Israel’s increasing and continuing attacks against the people of Gaza in violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” the statement emphasized. “We wish grace to our Palestinian brothers and sisters who lost their lives in the attacks and urgent healing to the wounded.
“As all party groups and deputies of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, we invite world parliaments, the international community and organizations to take a stance and initiative to stop these atrocities,” it added.
Türkiye is among a few countries outspoken against Israel’s indiscriminate attacks against Palestinians. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly called for a solution to the ongoing conflict based on a two-state model serving Palestinians’ long overdue demands. Elsewhere, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pursues diplomatic efforts for a resolution to the conflict, holding talks with his counterparts in the region. Fidan has recently proposed a “guarantorship model” for resolution. Türkiye is also active in aid efforts for Palestinians and sent planeloads of humanitarian aid to the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only land connection to the outside world.
Derya Yanık said Türkiye, “since day one,” did what it should do “politically, diplomatically and out of humanitarian concerns to end the humanitarian drama due to Israel’s savage attacks amounting to genocide.”
“We invite everyone, particularly the United Nations, global nongovernmental organizations working for human rights and democracy, all countries promoting themselves as champions of human rights, every influential person, to take action to stop Israeli violence, given the nature of Israel’s attacks, which amounts to war crimes and genocide,” Yanık said. Yanık also called for countries to force Israel into a humanitarian cease-fire through diplomatic mechanism and “some media outlets particularly in the United States and Europe to stand with humanity instead of violating global principles of media to legitimize Israel’s savagery.”
Parliament on Tuesday also approved agreements on the establishment of friendship groups of the parliaments of 147 countries but as a reaction, Israel was excluded from the agreements.
Parliamentary Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday that humanity should not be silent in the face of the destruction of hospitals, people in need of a glass of water or in the face of absence of medical equipment that troubles the Gazan population. “We call upon the world to fulfill its responsibility towards these people. Double standards in the conflict, the hypocritical approach is unacceptable,” he said, referring to the international community’s support for Israel.
