President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at the murderous administration of Israel as the death toll in the latter’s massacres in Gaza climbs. Addressing members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in his hometown, Rize, on Sunday, Erdoğan pointed out his country’s strengthened defense industry, adding: “If (we) get stronger, Israel cannot do what it is doing in Palestine now. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” Erdoğan stated.
“There is no reason why we cannot do this. We must be strong so that we can take these steps,” Erdoğan said.
The president was referring to Türkiye’s military deployment in 2020 to the North African country and staunch support for Azerbaijan as the latter fought a war to take back Karabakh occupied by Armenians.
Erdoğan cited how Türkiye cut off commercial ties with Israel as he summed up Türkiye’s actions to stop Israel.
He also discussed Türkiye’s invitation to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which he mentioned in another speech in Rize last week. An opposition lawmaker has called on the government to invite Abbas to make a speech at the Turkish Parliament, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did at the U.S. Congress. “Abbas unfortunately did not accept the invitation. So, we are going to take our steps accordingly,” Erdoğan, who earlier called on the Palestinian leader to apologize about the issue.