Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at a group meeting at the parliament in Ankara, in a 2023 file photo.
ANKARA – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon had reached a point where they also threaten Turkey, adding Israel’s “aggression” posed a threat to the whole world and must be stopped.
NATO member Turkey has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s assaults on Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon, saying Israel was the biggest obstacle to regional peace. It has halted all trade with Israel and called for measures against it at international courts.
“The attacks by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his network of murder on Lebanon and Syria have brought the issue to a point where it also threatens Turkey,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament, and added that Ankara’s security was tied to that of these two countries.
Erdogan also said Israel was leading a “sneaky effort” to destabilise African countries and the Mediterranean by igniting “the fire of discord” on the ethnically-split island of Cyprus.
