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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Gaza has been turned into "the world's largest concentration camp" and that international law is "almost suspended," calling the war in the enclave "a test of humanity for the whole world" on Friday.
"Thousands of children lost a hand, a foot, a part of their body. Gaza has been turned into the world’s largest concentration camp by an arrogant, radical genocide network that sees itself above international law and never tires of killing," Erdogan said at the International Justice Summit at Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace.
The Turkish president used the summit, hosted by Türkiye's Justice Ministry, to press his long-running call for U.N. reform, arguing that a system built on the veto power of five countries cannot deliver peace or justice as wars rage from Gaza to Ukraine.
"In Gaza, for exactly three years, people have been brutally killed before the eyes of the whole world. Civilians are being mercilessly martyred," Erdogan stated.
He said more than 74,000 Gazans, mostly children and women, had been killed, and that schools, universities, hospitals and places of worship had been struck.
"As you know, a ceasefire was established last year with our country’s contributions. This ceasefire, which our Palestinian brothers abided by, has been violated thousands of times by the Israeli government," he added.
President Erdogan said 1,500 Palestinians had been killed and more than 5,000 injured since the truce took effect on Oct. 11, 2025.
He said illegal settlement activity in the West Bank continues through state-backed organized crime and violence by fanatical groups, that holy sites in Jerusalem are being raided, and that Israel treats the security of its neighbors as a direct threat.
Erdogan said the international community had failed to respond and that judicial and sanction mechanisms had not worked as they should.
"Türkiye has made its stance very clear by applying to intervene in the case at the International Court of Justice, by completely halting its trade with Israel, and by issuing red notices for the real perpetrators of the armed attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla," he said.
"This is a test of humanity for the whole world. It is a test of sincerity for all of us. Türkiye will endure hardship if necessary, but it will not turn its back on those who place their hopes in it and who have been wronged," Erdogan added.
He said no one could claim the international system is just until those responsible for genocide in Gaza are held accountable before the law.
“International law is almost suspended. International agreements have, so to speak, lost their validity. The rulings of international courts likewise cannot be enforced,” Erdogan said.
"Principles, norms, the rules at the center of the system... All of them have been trampled underfoot. Dear friends, I am not saying these for rhetoric, polemics or agitation. On the contrary, these are bitter truths we must confront," he said.
Citing Article 1 of the U.N. Charter, signed 81 years ago in San Francisco, Erdogan said: "International peace and security, as we all know, cannot be achieved without justice."
"We are all aware that a structure in which the will of more than 190 countries under the United Nations umbrella depends on the decisions of only five members with veto privileges is neither fair nor healthy," he noted.
"No one can say that a United Nations system that does not reflect the international will is legitimate and just. A system in which international court rulings are not recognized, not implemented, not even taken into account cannot be expected to produce peace and security," President Erdogan said.
"That is why, as Türkiye, we say at every opportunity, 'The world is bigger than five.' That is exactly why we say, 'A fairer world is possible,'" he said, pledging to remain “the voice of the oppressed and the wronged.”
The Turkish president also pointed to global inequality.
"Is it fair, is it just, that a handful of elites, numbering barely 60,000 worldwide, have three times more wealth, income and opportunity than 4 billion people?" he asked, adding that rich polluting nations have left behind countries with almost no role in climate change.
He said the blockage in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 35% of global oil exports pass, has not been resolved for months, while the Russia-Ukraine war, now past four and a half years, “continues with thousands of lives lost every month.”
"Where conscience and fairness are abandoned, there is no justice. In a legal system where equality before the law is ignored, there is no justice," he stated.
"Justice is giving the rightful their due. Justice is not letting the weak be crushed by the strong. Justice is the power to protect the oppressed from the oppressor. Justice is the foundation on which the state is built," he noted, as he closed his remarks on Gaza and the international order.
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