Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly criticized Israel’s attacks on Gaza and called on Germany to join efforts to end the humanitarian crisis during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Ankara on Thursday, Anadolia reported.
Merz, who formed Germany’s new coalition government in May, is on his first official visit to Ankara.
Erdogan said that the Palestinian group Hamas “does not have bombs or nuclear weapons, but Israel does,” adding that Israel bombed Gaza with them yesterday.
“Germany, don’t you see that,” Erdogan asked.
The Turkish president pointed out that he conveyed Ankara’s views on preventing repeated crimes in Gaza to Merzu and emphasized support for a two-state solution as a path to lasting peace.
“Just as we want an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, we also support an end to Israel’s war against Gaza,” Erdogan said. “Turkey and Germany are two key countries that can join forces to achieve this.”
He further condemned the Israeli attacks, saying that Israel “has long sought to subjugate Gaza through starvation and what can be called genocide – and it continues to this day.”
“We must end the genocide and deliberate starvation (in Gaza) by involving the German Red Cross and our Turkish Red Crescent,” Erdogan added.
According to Palestinian sources, Israel has killed more than 68,500 people, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 170,600 in its attacks on Gaza since October 2023.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
