Speaking to reporters on Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lamented the United States’ pro-Israeli stance in Palestine’s bid for United Nations membership.
“Everyone stood with Palestine. Unfortunately, the United States sided with Israel,” Erdoğan said in Istanbul, adding that they did not expect anything “different” from the United States anyway.
The U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Thursday demanding Palestine's full membership in the United Nations. The membership was blocked with a vote of 12 in favor and two abstentions, including the U.K. and Switzerland. Palestine was accepted as an observer state of the U.N. General Assembly in 2012, allowing its envoy to participate in debates and U.N. organizations but without a vote. States are admitted to membership in the U.N. by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, according to the U.N. Charter. A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members – the U.S., Britain, France, Russia or China – to pass.
Erdoğan also commented on tensions between Israel and Türkiye’s neighbor Iran, in light of a reported Israeli attack targeting Iran early Friday.
“At the moment, Israel is saying something and Iran says something else. We didn’t hear any reasonable statement (from either side),” Erdoğan said. Shortly before Erdoğan’s remarks, the Foreign Ministry called upon Israel and Iran to avoid escalation of the conflict in the region.
Earlier this week, Erdoğan renewed his commitment to the Palestinian cause and announced he would host the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh over the weekend.
“By killing over 14,000 innocent children in Gaza, Israel has already outdone Nazi leader Adolf Hitler,” Erdoğan told his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) parliamentary meeting in Ankara on Wednesday. He once again hit out at the “unconditional support from the West” for Israel, which he said was helping Israel “carry out massacres that went down shamefully in human history, both in Gaza, West Bank.”
Erdoğan has harshly criticized Israel and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing a "massacre” since the latter launched a deadly military offensive on Gaza after an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Palestinian resistance group Hamas, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.
Erdoğan’s government maintains links with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. Unlike some European countries and the United States, Türkiye does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. “We are the only ones who have been brave enough to call Hamas a liberation movement,” the president added. “Despite those who try to pander to Israel by classifying Hamas as terrorists, Türkiye will continue defending Palestine’s struggle for independence at every turn.”
