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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Hamas members are "resistance fighters"

Photo: ADEM ALTAN / AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken a clear stance against Israel in the Middle East war. Shortly before his visit to Berlin, he again attacked the country with sharp words and trivialized Hamas. In a speech to the Turkish parliament, Erdoğan described Israel as a terrorist state and accused the country of genocide in the Gaza Strip. Israel is violating international law in the Palestinian territory and is committing war crimes, he said.

Erdoğan called the Israeli military operation against Hamas "the most insidious attacks in the history of mankind" with "unlimited support" from the West. The leadership in Israel must be tried for war crimes at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, he demanded. "With the brutality of bombing the civilians who were displaced from their homes during their resettlement, it is state terrorism in the truest sense of the word," Erdoğan said of Israel. "I say now with a calm heart that Israel is a terrorist state."

In addition, the head of state reiterated that the radical Islamic Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a political party elected by the Palestinians and resists Israel: "We will never shy away from speaking the truth that Hamas members who protect their land, their honor and their lives in the face of the occupation policies are resistance fighters just because some people are uncomfortable with it." said he.

In fact, Hamas, which has an armed wing in the Al-Qassam Brigades and whose founding charter of 1988 set the goal of destroying Israel, became the strongest party in the Palestinian parliamentary elections in the Gaza Strip in 2006. The election victory was followed by a brief civil war between supporters of Hamas and the rival Fatah movement, which rules the West Bank and is led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Since then, there have been no elections in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. Fatah and Hamas had agreed on presidential and parliamentary elections for 2021. However, they were cancelled by Abbas a few weeks earlier. It was suspected that he feared an electoral defeat.

Erdoğan had already described Hamas as a liberation organization, triggering criticism from Western-influenced states. Unlike the United States, Israel and Germany, Turkey does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization and hosts some of its members. Politically, Turkey, like many other countries, supports a two-state solution. This is clearly rejected by the right-wing Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Turmoil over Erdoğan's visit to Germany

In recent days, the Turkish president's rhetorical attacks against Israel have also sparked a debate in Germany. Erdoğan is expected in Berlin on Friday and will meet both Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Scholz himself had already described Erdoğan's accusations of fascism against Israel as "absurd". The president of the Central Council of Jews said Erdoğan "must not be a partner for German politics."

In his speech in parliament, Erdoğan also called on Netanyahu to make public whether Israel possesses nuclear bombs or not. In his view, it is clear that Israel has such weapons. The background is the controversial statement by the Israeli Minister of Cultural Heritage, Amichay Eliyahu, who said in an interview that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip and killing all the people there was "an option" to deal with the threat posed by Hamas. Netanyahu then suspended the minister, saying his remarks did not correspond to reality.

Israel is internationally counted among the de facto nuclear powers, but has not officially confirmed its ownership. The country is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which provides for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Pakistan and India, among others, have not done so, but they officially possess such weapons.

col/Reuters