President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday slammed Israel’s leadership for acting with a sense of superiority and warned that its actions are dragging the region step by step toward a broader disaster.
"We all know that the attacks targeting Gaza first, then Yemen and Lebanon, and most recently Iran, are not solely motivated by security concerns,” Erdoğan said at an iftar event with journalists at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.
Erdoğan said the global system established after World War II is undergoing a historic rupture, stressing the need to convey the realities on the ground to the international community. He said a destructive war led by Israel is currently unfolding in the region, where innocent children are being killed in schools and civilians are being forced to flee lands they have inhabited for centuries.
Erdoğan also criticized Israel for arbitrarily closing Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslim worshippers for 17 days, despite having no legitimate authority to do so. He said Israel’s attacks targeting Gaza, followed by Yemen, Lebanon and most recently Iran, go beyond security concerns.
He added that simultaneous narratives ranging from the idea of "promised lands” to apocalyptic scenarios being brought into public discourse are not coincidental, suggesting a broader ideological agenda behind the attacks.
Erdoğan warned that a network that sees itself as superior to others is dragging the region step by step toward disaster, stressing the importance of raising global awareness about what he described as "barbarity” and a "state of madness.”
He emphasized that Türkiye, as a country with global influence, must expand its outreach beyond its borders and strengthen its presence in international media to ensure these realities are heard worldwide.
Referring to U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, Erdoğan said Türkiye’s goal is to ensure that what he described as a "senseless, unlawful and deeply wrong war” comes to an end as soon as possible. He added that Türkiye has consistently voiced its opposition to attacks that clearly violate international law, regardless of the perpetrator, while making intensive efforts to prevent further escalation.
The U.S. and Israel have continued a joint offensive on Iran since Feb. 28, killing so far more than 1,200 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries, which it says are targeting "U.S. military assets,” causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.
Israeli forces also intensified airstrikes and artillery shelling across southern Lebanon since early Tuesday, alongside a limited ground incursion, according to the Lebanese army and state media.