Turkey: Erdogan slams Israel at pro-Palestine rally

A day before Turkey’s secular republic turned 100 years old, President Tayyip Erdogan courted his Islamist political base by speaking to hundreds of thousands of supporters at one of the biggest pro-Palestinian protests since the start of the Israel-Hamas military conflict.

“Israel has been openly committing war crimes for 22 days, but the Western leaders cannot even call on Israel for a ceasefire, let alone react to it,” Erdogan told the crowd in Istanbul, who waved Palestinian flags.

“We will tell the whole world that Israel is a war criminal. We are making preparations for this. We will declare Israel a war criminal,” he said.

Erdogan called Israel an invader and restated his claim that Hamas was not a terrorist organisation during an hour-long speech.

Although 1,400 Israeli civilians were killed during Hamas’s Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel, Turkey denounced the group’s militants as “freedom fighters” this week.

He also attacked the unwavering support that several Western countries have given to Israel, which drew harsh criticism from both Italy and Israel.

Turkey does not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation, in contrast to the European Union, some Gulf governments, and many NATO members. It has provided long-term housing for its members, is in favour of a two-state solution, and has volunteered to assist in mediating the release of hostages held by Hamas after the attack on October 7.

Erdogan, according to political commentators, is eager to highlight his criticism of Israel’s shelling of the Gaza Strip and to cast a shadow over Sunday’s festivities honouring Turkey’s secular heritage.

Erdogan’s harsher rhetoric, according to Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish ambassador and director of the Centre for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies, a think tank with headquarters in Istanbul, was spurred by the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza getting worse and pressure from Erdogan’s political friends.

The country “will protect its principles and share these with the international community, but it needs to do this with a more delicate diplomacy if it expects to play such a diplomatic role,” Ulgen stated.

The leaders of Erdogan’s allies Islamist and nationalist groups, who aided him in winning tight elections in May, were present at the gathering held at Istanbul’s former airport. Erdogan attacked the opposition parties for both failing to label Netanyahu a “terrorist” and using the same label for Hamas.

(With agency inputs)