Eclipsing Turkey’s centenary, Erdogan tells pro-Palestinian rally, Israel is occupier

Eclipsing Turkey’s centenary, Erdogan tells pro-Palestinian rally, Israel is occupier
Eclipsing Turkey’s centenary, Erdogan tells pro-Palestinian rally, Israel is occupier

Hello and welcome to the details of Eclipsing Turkey’s centenary, Erdogan tells pro-Palestinian rally, Israel is occupier and now with the details

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Istanbul, Turkey October 28, 2023. — Reuters pic

ISTANBUL, Oct 28 — President Tayyip Erdogan addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters at one of the largest pro-Palestinian rallies since the Israel-Hamas war began, courting his Islamist political base a day ahead of the centenary of Turkey’s secular republic.

“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.

In an hour-long speech, Erdogan also repeated his assertion that Hamas was not a terrorist organisation, describing Israel as an occupier.

Advertisement

Turkey has condemned Israeli civilian deaths caused by Hamas’s October 7 rampage through southern Israel, which killed 1,400, but Erdogan this week called Hamas Palestinian “freedom fighters”.

He also criticised some Western nations’ unconditional support for Israel, drawing sharp rebukes from Italy and Israel.

Unlike many Nato allies, the European Union and some Gulf states, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. It has long hosted its members, supports a two-state solution and has offered to play a role in negotiating the release of hostages abducted by Hamas during the October 7 assault.

Advertisement

Political analysts said Erdogan was keen to reinforce his criticism of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip and to overshadow tomorrow’s celebrations marking Turkey’s secular roots.

Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and director of the Centre for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies, an Istanbul-based think-tank, said Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis and pressure from political allies had prompted Erdogan to sharpen his rhetoric.

Turkey “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 said.

The heads of allied nationalist and Islamist parties - which helped Erdogan secure victory in tight May elections - attended the rally at Istanbul’s old airport. Erdogan criticised opposition parties for not calling Netanyahu a “terrorist” and for using the same term with reference to Hamas.

Ataturk Legacy

Erdogan had invited all Turks to attend the rally where he said “only our flag and the Palestine flag will wave”. His Islamist-rooted AK Party had predicted more than a million people would come.

Modern Turkey’s 100th anniversary comes tomorrow, when newspaper headlines could be dominated by news of the Saturday rally rather than celebrations of the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, analysts say.

Erdogan, Turkey’s longest-serving leader, and his AK Party have eroded support for the Western-facing ideals of Ataturk, who is revered by most Turks. In recent years, Erdogan’s portraits have appeared alongside those of Ataturk on government buildings and schools.

“The symbolism is clear and no one in Turkey is unaware of it - that the pro-Palestinian rally is likely to overshadow celebrations for the centennial of the secular republic,” said Asli Aydintasbas, visiting fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

She said that while Erdogan’s comments about Hamas reflected Ankara’s long-held position, he aimed to benefit from anti-Israel sentiment domestically and “consolidate Turkey’s Sunni conservatives”.

The government has said the Israel-Hamas conflict will not restrict celebrations of the 100th anniversary, for which it has organised events across the country. — Reuters

These were the details of the news Eclipsing Turkey’s centenary, Erdogan tells pro-Palestinian rally, Israel is occupier for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.

It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.

NEXT US military raises alert level for Europe bases: reports

Author Information

I am Jeff King and I’m passionate about business and finance news with over 4 years in the industry starting as a writer working my way up into senior positions. I am the driving force behind Al-KhaleejToday.NET with a vision to broaden the company’s readership throughout 2016. I am an editor and reporter of “Financial” category. Address: 383 576 Gladwell Street Longview, TX 75604, USA Phone: (+1) 903-247-0907 Email: [email protected]