First lady Emine Erdoğan Sunday said the world failed to raise its voice while an Israeli minister considered dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza as an option in a message on the occasion of World Human Rights Day.
“How can they talk about universal human rights now?” the first lady raised questions in her message on a social media post.
Last month, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, told Israeli media that dropping a "nuclear bomb" on Gaza is "an option." Israel has long refused to publicly acknowledge whether it possesses nuclear weapons.
Since a new round of conflict broke out in October, Ankara pressed on Israel to declare its nuclear arsenal, to no avail.
The first lady said that the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed 75 years ago was marked when “human rights are being trampled in Gaza.”
“We are shaken by images of innocent Gazan children wrapped in shrouds for the past two months. Israel blatantly commits crimes against humanity and violates global humanitarian values and international law. They kill not only women, children and the elderly but also all values of humanity,” the first lady said.
She hosted a meeting of first ladies from around the world last month in Istanbul for solidarity with Palestinian civilians under the constant bombardment of Israel. The first lady also champions efforts to evacuate orphaned Palestinian children in Gaza and voices her support for the Palestinian cause on every occasion.
“Türkiye will make this cruelty be heard in the world, through every means, and will have one voice united for peace. We wish for a world order where everyone is treated equally and fairly and the oppressed, the innocent, the refugee, the needy will not be treated based on their religion, language or race,” the first lady said in her message.
Similarly, Turkish parliamentary speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said in his message on the occasion that he wished for a world where people are treated equally.
“Human rights are universal and having a world order where some people are less equal is not sustainable,” Kurtulmuş said in a social media post. He expressed his wish that World Human Rights Day would be a gateway to liberation and solution for the whole world, particularly Gazans devastated by genocide and war.
Kurtulmuş lamented that the world has gone through many challenges since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and humanity “mostly failed” in the face of those challenges.
“Things happened in Iraq, Syria and Srebrenica in the past and things happening in Gaza today is evidence that humanity and human rights are in their death throes,” he said.
Kurtulmuş said major powers avoided responsibility toward the Declaration and the world was facing growing, tremendous problems, from wars to mass migration, from xenophobia, racism, rights violations to violence.
“In this context, it is necessary to transform existing institutions (tasked with resolving these issues). Türkiye is ready to lead on this matter, for the future of humanity,” he said.
