President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated Türkiye's determination to stand up for Palestinians and said Ankara would continue to oppose all NATO initiatives in favor of Israel.
''Türkiye will continue to oppose all NATO initiatives supporting Israel over its war crimes and will continue to stand in solidarity with Palestine,'' Erdoğan told reporters following a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara on Tuesday. He noted that he voiced this concern during the NATO leaders' summit in Washington last week.
He continued by saying that Türkiye's stance would not change unless Israel ended its massacres, occupation and genocidal policies in Gaza.
"Israel could not break the spirit of Palestinian resistance," he said, adding that Palestinians continue to heroically defend their land, despite the fact that Israel killed almost 40,000 Palestinians.
Erdoğan reiterated Türkiye's offer to undertake a role to ensure peace, including guarantorship, as he said Israel needs to be forced into agreeing to a cease-fire deal.
The president said he highlighted Türkiye's critical role in NATO and expressed Ankara's expectations from its allies regarding the defense sector and counterterrorism efforts.
He criticized NATO allies for withholding weapons from Türkiye but freely handing them out to terrorist groups in Syria: "It is evident that this attitude is not in line with the concept of alliance."
Erdoğan on Friday said attempts to cooperate with Israel within NATO are “not acceptable.”
"It is not possible for the Israeli administration, which has trampled on the fundamental values of our alliance, to continue its partnership relationship with NATO," Erdoğan told a news conference in Washington after the NATO leaders summit.
The defense alliance has 32 members but also maintains relations with many non-member countries and international organizations, called "NATO partners."
NATO leaders gathered for a three-day summit to mark the military alliance's 75th anniversary.
During his talks on the sidelines of the summit, Erdoğan drew attention to the ongoing Israeli "atrocities" in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration, "with its expansionist and reckless policies," endangers the security of not only its own citizens but also the entire region, he stressed.
