Erdogan’s accusation comes weeks after the Turkish president, who has cracked down on free speech and jailed political opponents, met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
By Karl Salzmann, The Washington Free Beacon
Anti-Semitic Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday made the bizarre claim that Israel will attack Turkey if it defeats Hamas terrorists in its war in Gaza.
“Do not think that Israel will stop in Gaza,” Erdogan told the Turkish Parliament, according to a translation by the Times of Israel. “Unless it’s stopped … this rogue and terrorist state will set its sights on Anatolia sooner or later.”
“Anatolia” refers to the peninsula that compromises most of Turkey.
“We will continue to stand by Hamas, which fights for the independence of its own land and which defends Anatolia,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan’s accusation comes weeks after the Turkish president, who has cracked down on free speech and jailed political opponents, met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Erdogan committed during those meetings to defending “the Palestinian struggle.”
The Turkish president has long expressed anti-Israel views, saying in 2021 that Israelis are “murderers” who “kill children” and are “sucking their blood,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
While President Joe Biden originally condemned Erdogan’s authoritarianism and anti-Semitism, he has changed his tune in recent years.
In 2023, for example, Biden’s State Department bowed to Erdogan’s wishes and began referring to Turkey as “Türkiye.”
The State Department was silent on Erdogan’s meeting with Haniyeh, prompting pushback on Capitol Hill, the Free Beacon reported.