Could Turkey enter Israel in support of Palestinians? Let’s hear President Erdogan

Last updated on July 30th, 2024 at 09:56 am

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan triggered has quite a bit of controversy on social media as he said on Sunday that his country might enter Israel as it had done in the past in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, though he did not spell out the type of intervention.

The brutal Israel-Hamas conflict has been raging on since October 7 as Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli cities, killing some 1,200 people and taking several others hostages. Israel’s retaliatory strikes, on the other hand, have already claimed 39,300 lives.

Stopping Israel from doing “ridiculous things to Palestine”

Considered a strong critic of Israeli operation in the besieged Gaza Strip, Erdogan started discussing the deadly fighting during a speech praising his country’s defence industry. “We must be very strong so that Israel cannot do these ridiculous things to Palestine.”

In the meeting of his ruling AK Party in Rize, Erdogan appeared to be referring to past actions by Turkey. In 2020, Turkey sent military personnel to Libya in support of the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord of Libya.

In addition, Turkey has denied any direct involvement in Azerbaijan’s military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh, but said last year it’s using “all means”, including military training and modernisation, to help its close ally, according to a report on Reuters.

“[President Erdogan] is a danger to the Middle East”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed the Turkish President for his remarks and accused him of following in the footsteps of Sadam Hussein. The US toppled the Iraqi dictator’s regime in 2003 under the leadership of former President George Bush.

Yair Lapid, Leader of the Opposition in Israel, stressed: “President Erdogan is ranting and raving again. He is a danger to the Middle East … Nato members must strongly condemn his outrageous threats against Israel and force him to end his support for Hamas.”