Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Israel’s blockade and bombing of Gaza in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack was a disproportionate response amounting to a “massacre,” but repeated Ankara’s offer to mediate.
With Ankara offering to mediate between the sides this week, Erdogan and his foreign minister held calls with regional powers and Western counterparts.
Erdogan, speaking to his ruling AK Party in parliament, said even war has a “morality” but the flare-up since the weekend “very severely” violated that.
“Preventing people meeting their most fundamental needs and bombing housing where civilians live – in short, conducting a conflict using every sort of shameful method – is not a war, it’s a massacre,” he said, referring to Israel cutting off electricity and water to Gaza and destroying infrastructure.
Erdogan criticised Israel’s “disproportionate” attacks on Gaza as “devoid of any ethical foundation,” and urged the world not to “blindly” take one side. Leaving the underlying issue unresolved would lead to new, more violent conflicts, he warned.
“We call on countries in the Americas, Europe, and other regions to take up a position between the parties that is fair, just, and based on humanitarian balances,” he said. “Everyone should refrain from acts that will wholly punish the Palestinian people, like blocking humanitarian aid.”
Erdogan later held a call with Jordan’s King Abdullah to discuss developments, the Turkish presidency said, adding that Erdogan “stated the need to be vigilant against the possibility of conflicts spreading to the wider region.”
