Newsletters
President and ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Iran’s self-defense against Israel’s "banditry and state terror is an entirely natural, legitimate, and legal right."
"Iran has been very clearly attacked by a country that does not recognize law, does not recognize rules, has no principles, is spoiled, pampered, and has lost its mind," Erdogan noted.
President Erdogan spoke at the AK Party Parliamentary Group Meeting, stating that Israel's occupation and massacre policies in Palestine took on a different dimension after Oct. 7, 2023, turning into mass slaughter, collective punishment, and ultimately genocide.
Explaining that more than 55,000 innocent Gazans, mostly children and women, have lost their lives in the violence that has been increasing for 620 days, and more than 128,000 people have been injured, Erdogan reported that Israel's attacks have now taken on a much more serious and barbaric dimension.
He drew attention to the fact that 2 million innocent civilians trying to hold on to life in Gaza, 80% of which is in ruins, are completely condemned to hunger, thirst and lack of medicine. He added that, as if this were not enough, Israel rained bullets and bombs on the oppressed people gathered at aid distribution points.
Erdogan continued his speech as follows: "I say it very clearly, the most horrific photos and videos of the Second World War are, believe me, very, very innocent compared to the images coming from Gaza today."
"In that Holocaust process in Europe, there were no images as horrific as in Gaza, as painful as in Gaza, as inhuman, as unconscionable, as similar to those in Gaza," he stated.
"Netanyahu has long surpassed the cruel Hitler in the crime of genocide. I hope his fate will not be the same. Allah willing, sooner or later, he will appear before an independent international court, face everything he has done, and give account for the crimes and massacres he has committed in this world without waiting for the afterlife," Erdogan added.
Noting that as if all this were not enough, Israel expanded its banditry field a little more by attacking some targets in Iran and organizing assassinations within Iran, Erdogan said, "I must say this first: Iran's self-defense against Israel's banditry, against this state terror, is an extremely natural, legitimate, legal right."
"Iran has been very clearly attacked by a country that does not recognize law, does not recognize rules, has no principles, is spoiled, pampered, and has lost its mind," he added.
Emphasizing that these attacks were organized while Iran's nuclear negotiations were ongoing, Erdogan said: "Israel, which itself possesses nuclear weapons and does not recognize any international rules in its nuclear activities, carried out a terrorist act without waiting for the negotiations to end, without waiting for the result."
"Unfortunately, international institutions and states, led by the United Nations, remain silent in the face of this aggression carried out before the eyes of the whole world, all humanity, and some even openly support this banditry," Erdogan added.
"Those who remained silent while a picture that has been the shame of humanity for exactly 620 days in Gaza is being lived, have now wrapped themselves in deep silence again while the fire is rapidly spreading to our entire region. I say again: Remaining silent in the face of this aggression, this lawlessness, this state terror and banditry is to consent to what is happening," Erdogan stated.
Stating that the blood of murdered civilians, killed babies, and children has splashed on the hands and foreheads of those who support Israel's spoiled behavior as well as those who remain silent, and that blood stain will never be cleaned from those hands and foreheads, Erdogan said.
"This blood and shame stain has not only splashed on Netanyahu's hands and forehead, not only on the hands and foreheads of the Zionists who support him; but also on the hands, foreheads, and consciences of everyone who remains silent, who remains silent, who remains unresponsive," he added.
"We are doing and will continue to do everything we can to stop this inhuman aggression against Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and our neighbor Iran," Erdogan stated.
Saying that just like in other conflicts faced in the last 23 years, they are closely following Israel's attacks on Iran, Erdogan said, "All our institutions and all our relevant colleagues are on alert regarding the possible effects of these attacks on Türkiye. We have made and are making our preparations against all kinds of negativity, all kinds of scenarios."
"First of all, everyone should know this: We are not running a grocery store, we are managing one of the world's largest countries, the Republic of Türkiye," he added.
"Our state experience, our historical depth, our centuries-old accumulation as a nation is our greatest reference source in managing this process," Erdogan noted.
President Erdogan continued as follows: "Power responsibility cannot handle empty rhetoric, bombast, polemic. We cannot act with the rhetoric of those who do not have egg crates on their backs. We do not take seriously the provocations of those who, until yesterday, volunteered to be Israel's lawyers and shamelessly and unabashedly called Hamas a 'terrorist organization'."
"Those who criticized us mercilessly for drawing attention to Israel's increasing aggression in my parliamentary opening speech should not give us advice today or question our sensitivity, but if they have any self-respect left, they should admit their mistakes and apologize to us," he added.
"We determine the steps we have taken and will take not according to the advice of these visionless people who are incapable of seeing even the tip of their noses, but with the state seriousness befitting the Republic of Türkiye," Erdogan added.
"We are not on the side of conflict, violence, oppression, but on the side of right, justice, dialogue and diplomacy. With this understanding, we have been in intensive diplomatic traffic since June 13 for the end of aggression. We spoke twice with US President Trump and Iranian President Pezeshkian," he noted.
"We had phone conversations with the leaders of all our brotherly countries in our region in the same way. We evaluated the issue thoroughly with Russian President Putin. Apart from us, our other colleagues are also in constant contact with their counterparts," he added.
Erdogan concluded by stating: "From the very beginning, as a country that can also talk to Iran, we have worked for the diplomatic solution of the nuclear issue. Today, we are doing and will continue to do whatever falls on us for the weapons to be silent. Let our nation be at ease. Their governments are followers of Türkiye's interests, peace, order, and security to the end. The strong solidarity of AK Party and the People's Alliance is the guarantee of all 86 million in these stormy waters."
1 min read
1 min read
