Erdogan condemns Gaza devastation: “Defending Palestine is defending humanity”

In a powerful address at the Parliamentary Group Supporting Palestine meeting in Istanbul on Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a scathing critique of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and called for immediate international action to support Palestinian rights and sovereignty.

The Turkish leader characterized the Palestinian struggle as “not just defending an oppressed people” but rather “defending humanity, peace, and justice,” framing it as “a matter of dignity for a people who have been subjected to all kinds of oppression, barbarism and massacres for almost a century.”

Humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza

Speaking to parliamentarians gathered at the Conrad Hotel, Erdogan provided a stark assessment of the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in Gaza since October 7, 2023. According to figures cited by the president, nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign, with women and children constituting the majority of victims.

“The Israeli government is slaughtering our Palestinian brothers and sisters in a complete state of frenzy, without regard for children, women, babies, or the elderly,” Erdogan said. “More than 7 percent of the population has either been killed or disabled.”

The Turkish president highlighted the targeting of journalists, noting that 212 media workers have been killed while trying to report on the conflict. He specifically mentioned a recent incident in which a female journalist was killed alongside ten members of her family.

“Hundreds of doctors, nurses, and health personnel have been targeted by bullets. Aid workers have been killed. Babies have visibly lost their lives because they could not find medicine, water, or food,” Erdogan detailed, painting a comprehensive picture of the devastation.

The destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure has been equally severe, with Erdogan stating that approximately 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed. “Gaza has been devastated to the point where no stone remains upon stone,” he said, describing “a massive pile of rubble of more than 50 million tons.”

International silence and complicity

A significant portion of Erdogan’s address was devoted to criticizing what he characterized as international indifference to the suffering in Gaza. The Turkish president expressed particular disappointment with Western nations and media organizations that have historically championed human rights and freedom of the press.

“Journalists are being killed, and international press organizations are watching. Children are being killed, and human rights defenders are watching. Healthcare workers are being killed, and the Western world is watching,” Erdogan said, employing a powerful rhetorical pattern to emphasize his point.

He directly questioned major international media outlets, asking: “Where is the BBC, where is CNN and the others?” Erdogan continued, “Is there anyone in the world who sees when humanity is being killed in Gaza, when children, babies, women are dying in flames, when journalists are being executed?”

The Turkish president also criticized the international system more broadly, stating that “in Gaza, the international system has failed the test.” He specifically mentioned that organizations from the United Nations to the European Union have “performed poorly in this examination, violating the principles they claim to defend.”

Erdogan acknowledged shortcomings within the Islamic world as well, saying, “I say this with a heavy heart, with my heart bleeding: the Islamic world has unfortunately not fulfilled what was expected of it.”

Legitimacy of Palestinian resistance

Erdogan strongly rejected efforts to characterize Gaza’s resistance as terrorism, drawing a direct parallel to Türkiye’s own history. “The struggle of our brothers and sisters in Gaza is no different from the independence struggle that our nation waged against invaders a century ago,” he said. “The Palestinian Resistance Movement, in our view, is a National Forces movement.”

He emphasized that Palestinians have been resisting occupation for a century, not just the past 18 months. “They have been writing an epic of resistance for a century against an occupying and invading state that disregards international law,” Erdogan stated.

The Turkish president also addressed the blocking of humanitarian aid since March 2, accusing the Israeli government of attempting to “eliminate innocents they couldn’t kill with bombs by essentially starving them, depriving them of water and medicine.”

Looking to the future, Erdogan outlined Türkiye’s priorities for resolving the conflict: achieving an immediate permanent ceasefire, ensuring uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gazans, and securing the complete withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza.

He expressed strong support for the two-state solution, emphasizing that “there is no alternative” to this approach. Erdogan insisted on the establishment of “an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with territorial integrity, based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The Turkish president firmly rejected any proposals that would displace Palestinians from their ancestral lands, regardless of how such plans might be packaged: “No matter what packaging it comes in, any offer that would exile Palestinians from the lands they have lived in for thousands of years has no value to us.”

Erdogan concluded his address with a powerful assertion of solidarity: “Gaza belongs to Gazans. Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people. We will continue to defend the Palestinian cause even if we are left alone.”