Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the UN General Assembly, delivering strong messages regarding the Palestinian issue. He called the ongoing events in Gaza a genocide, urging all countries to recognize Palestine as a state.
The editorial office reports that Erdoğan began his speech with the words, “I stand for our Palestinian brothers and sisters whose voices are stifled in this tribune.” He stated that the genocide in Gaza has been ongoing for over 700 days, and that one child has been killed by Israel every hour over the past 23 months. Erdoğan emphasized that 428 people have died of starvation, 146 of whom were children, and displayed photos depicting the tragedy in Gaza from the UN tribune.
The Turkish President called what is happening in Gaza “humanity's lowest point,” stating, “there is no war here, there are no sides – on one side there is an army equipped with modern weapons, and on the other side there are innocent children and civilians.” He characterized Israel's actions as “occupation, deportation, exile, genocide, and mass destruction.”
Erdoğan stated that Israel is not content with just Gaza and the West Bank of the Jordan River, but also threatens regional peace with attacks against Syria, Yemen, Iran, and Lebanon. He called the attack on Qatar proof that the Israeli leadership has lost control.
In his speech, the Turkish President also stated that the Israeli government's policies incite antisemitism, and that those who remain silent are complicit in this barbarism.
Erdoğan also touched upon regional issues, emphasizing that the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia is continuing as planned, and that two separate states and two peoples exist in Cyprus.
He concluded his speech with the famous slogan “the world is bigger than five,” stating, “a more just world is possible, and Turkey will continue its struggle for it.”