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On Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of “spitting blood” and said that his nation would press for Israel to be put on trial at an international criminal court if it continued its offensive in Gaza. Turkey, a member of NATO, was once one of Israel’s closest allies, but has since become one of its harshest critics – Erdogan had last week accused it of “surpassing Hitler in barbarism” with its assault on Gaza.
“If Israel continues with this attitude, it will definitely be tried at international courts.We will see this happen and Turkey will struggle for this”, he said at a rally in the city of Mersin. Erdogan is currently campaigning for presidential election that will be held on August 10th.
In an interview with CNN news channel, Erdogan said, “At the moment, Hamas is prepared for everything in order to achieve a ceasefire… (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas is prepared too. Israel is not even approaching such a thing and is spitting death, spitting blood”.
He also stood by his comment of likening Israel to hitler and said that Israel was committing genocide.
“It is beyond comprehension that Israel is still defended by the West and the world is silent about it. Therefore we cannot remain silent and we will not be silent”, he said.
Last week, Israel said that it was lessening its diplomatic presence in Turkey after stones were pelted by protestors at the Israeli consulate in Istanbul and the ambassador’s residence in Ankara.
Earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey was working with several international partners to mediate a ceasefire and an access point to humanitarian aid.
“The U.S., Turkey, Qatar and Egypt have been working for the last five days to ensure an immediate ceasefire”, he said to a Turkish broadcaster, adding that Turkey has been in constant contact with Palestinian leaders.
