After having previously offered to play peacemaker between Israel and Hamas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan let slip the mask of impartiality and insisted that the Palestinian militant group Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a “patriotic liberation movement fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people.”
While delivering a speech to lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Wednesday, October 26th, the Turkish head of state was the recipient of a thunderous, standing ovation from the chamber after he referred to Hamas as “mujahideen”—the Arabic word for those engaged in jihad or holy war—defending their homeland, Turkish media reported.
“Israel is killing children. We will not allow the killing of children,” Erdoğan declared. “We had a plan to go to Israel, but it was canceled. We will not go,” he added.
The sentiment expressed by Erdoğan represents a major departure from the NATO position. Earlier this month, in the wake of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, defense ministers from the alliance convened for a two-day meeting in Brussels, where they denounced Hamas’ actions and pledged to send weapons to Israel.
“The perpetrators of the massacre and the destruction taking place in Gaza are those providing unlimited support for Israel,” Erdoğan said. “Israel’s attacks on Gaza, for both itself and those supporting them, amount to murder and mental illness.”
Continuing, Erdoğan, always keen to present himself as a geopolitical mover and a shaker, called on “all other countries with reason and conscience to put pressure on the … government to return the state of Israel to sanity,” claiming that “crimes against humanity” are now being carried out against non-combatant Palestinians.
He further accused Western countries of being unable to “stop” Israel. “The failure of those who mobilized the world for Ukraine to speak out against the massacres in Gaza is the clearest sign of their hypocrisy,” the Turkish president said.
Erdoğan urged for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. “We have no problems with the Israeli state. But we have problems with Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians.” Finally, he called for the establishment of an “independent Palestine” and suggested that Turkey could be the guarantor of such agreements in the future.
The Turkish president’s statements were echoed by his foreign minister, who while speaking in Qatar accused Israel of a “crime against humanity” for what it has done in Gaza.
Erdoğan’s characterization of Hamas has been firmly rejected by Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat, who called the group a “ despicable terrorist organization.”
“Even the Turkish president’s attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his inciting words will not change the horrors that the whole world has seen,” Haiat wrote in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.
