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Türkiye rejected accusations Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leveled against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his United Nations speech, calling them "baseless and malicious" on Friday, in statements from both the U.N. General Assembly floor in New York and from Ankara.
A Turkish diplomat told the assembly the Israeli leader's international isolation "deepens with each passing day," while Türkiye's communications director said Netanyahu "has become more isolated than ever."
"The latest country to become a super spreader of antisemitic lies (is Türkiye)... Erdogan is a tyrant. He also hosts the Hamas terror chiefs," Netanyahu said during his speech.
A third secretary-level diplomat from Türkiye's Foreign Ministry exercised the right of reply on behalf of Türkiye at the 81st U.N. General Assembly in New York.
"We categorically reject the baseless and malicious accusations against Türkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan," the diplomat said.
The statement stressed that the walkout by numerous delegations during Netanyahu's speech was not a trivial move.
"This is a strong diplomatic condemnation. The message given is clear: What he says has lost its credibility, his policies are rejected and his isolation in the international arena deepens with each passing day," the diplomat said.
"The international community refuses to listen to a leader who has an arrest warrant against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity and who has lost his moral legitimacy," the statement said.
The diplomat described Netanyahu's untrue claims as desperate and hollow attempts to conceal what the statement called Israel's genocide in Gaza and its relentless aggression in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and beyond.
No propaganda can erase the truth, the statement said.
"Thousands of civilians have been killed, homes and hospitals have been reduced to rubble, schools have been deliberately targeted and the delivery of humanitarian aid has been deliberately obstructed. These are crimes that will not be forgotten and will not be forgiven," the diplomat said.
Personal attacks and lies collapse under the weight of undeniable facts, no matter how loudly or how often they are repeated, according to the statement.
"While Israel exports war, destruction and instability, Türkiye is building peace," the diplomat said.
Türkiye's Communications Director Burhanettin Duran also said Netanyahu's use of the UNGA podium to level "baseless accusations" against Türkiye and Erdogan was incompatible with the "ideals of peace, law and dialogue" represented by the U.N.
Writing on social media platform X, Duran referred to the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Netanyahu and criticized his remarks targeting Erdogan.
The Turkish official said Netanyahu's statements against Erdogan could not "make his massacres, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the proceedings before international law invisible."
"This situation is also being seen by the international community, and Netanyahu has become more isolated than ever," he wrote.
"Under the leadership of our President, Türkiye will continue to defend the rights of the oppressed, including our Palestinian brothers and sisters, a more just world, and peace; and to stand against injustice and oppression," Duran added.
Türkiye's ruling party Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman and party spokesperson Omer Celik also condemned Netanyahu on X.
"We condemn in the strongest terms the insolent, aggressive and delirious statements of genocidal Netanyahu, who has turned the U.N. podium into a stage for massacre propaganda, targeting our esteemed President and our country," Celik said.
"Netanyahu, the head of a murder network that has massacred tens of thousands of innocents in Gaza, without distinguishing between women, children or the elderly, and that has trampled international law underfoot, cannot cover up the crimes he has committed against humanity by targeting our esteemed President and Türkiye with lies," he said.
"This barbaric mindset, which distorts historical and legal facts on every issue from Cyprus to the Aegean, from Syria to Palestine, is guilty before the conscience of humanity and before international law," Celik said.
"Türkiye, under the leadership of our esteemed President, will continue to give the answers they deserve to the so-called threats, slanders and manipulations of this genocidal apparatus," he added.
Closing Türkiye's reply to Netanyahu's U.N. speech, the diplomat said Türkiye would maintain its firm support for the two-state solution, which the statement called the only viable path to lasting peace.
"We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinian people until the establishment of an independent, sovereign State of Palestine with territorial integrity, on the basis of the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," the diplomat said.
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