New Delhi: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his comments targeting Turkey’s ongoing military operation in the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin.
Speaking at the Ümraniye District Congress of AK Party, President Erdoğan said: “Israel will get trapped under the oppression it inflicts in Palestine. We will continue to support our Palestinian sisters and brothers in their rightful cause until the very end.”
“Have you ever heard those, who are criticizing Turkey for Afrin operation which is the neatest and the most ethical military operation conducted in recent years, raise any remarkable objection to, for instance, the massacre Israel perpetrated yesterday in Gaza? The number of the people killed has reached almost 20. And the number of injured people has reached nearly one thousand,” he said.
Erdogan strongly condemned the Israeli government for its inhumane attack and said, “The powers behind which Israel hides can protect it today, but I should tell only God knows what tomorrow will bring.”
Netanyahu had rejected Ankara’s “moral lessons” over the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, and labeled Erdoğan as someone who “bombs Kurdish villagers”.
“He says our soldiers are oppressing people in Afrin. Netanyahu, you are very weak, very poor,” Erdoğan told the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) congress in the southern Adana province.
“We are dealing with terrorists, but you are not. Because you are a terror state,” he added.
Calling the Israeli prime minister “an occupier” in Palestine, Erdogan said: “You are also a terrorist. History is recording what you have done to all those oppressed Palestinians … We are not guilty of any act of occupation.”
At least 17 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,500 were wounded on Friday when Israeli forces opened fire on “Land Day” protesters near the Gaza Strip’s eastern border.
Stating that Turkey will continue to support the Palestinians in their rightful cause until the very end, President Erdoğan noted that they will also continue to disclose Israeli terror at every opportunity.