Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday of a “massacre” of Kurdish people after the NATO leader compared Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
“They used to talk badly about Hitler. What is the difference between you and Hitler? They will make us miss Hitler. Is what Netanyahu did less than what Hitler did? It is not,” Erdogan told reporters in Ankara, according to Reuters.
“He is richer than Hitler, he has the support of the West,” he added. “All kinds of support came from the United States. And what do they do with all this support? They killed more than 20,000 Gazans.”
Erdogan, 69, has long criticized Israel’s policy towards Palestine and urged world leaders to end the Jewish state’s war against the Hamas terrorist group following its terrorist attack on October 7.
Netanyahu responded to X’s attacksaid: “Erdogan, who committed genocide against the Kurds and who holds the world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his regime, is the last person who can preach to us.
The Turkish leader has been vocal against Israel’s war on Hamas since it broke out on October 7. Turkish Presidency Press Office/AFP via Getty Images
Erdogan, who committed genocide against the Kurds and who holds the world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his regime, is the last person who can preach to us.
The IDF, which is the most moral army in the world, is fighting to eliminate the most…
— Benjamin Netanyahu December 27, 2023
“The IDF, which is the most moral army in the world, is fighting to eliminate the most disgusting and brutal terrorist organization in the world, Hamas-ISIS, which has committed crimes against humanity, and which is praised by Erdogan and the leaders he hosts. .”
Turkey’s population includes an estimated 15 million to 20 million Kurds, the majority of whom live in the east and southeast of the country.
The Turkish government has repeatedly crushed Kurdish rebellions since the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and the pro-autonomy Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department since 1997.
Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops fighting in northern Gaza on Christmas Day. AP
In 2019, then-President Donald Trump moved to withdraw US troops from Syria, paving the way for Erdogan’s forces to attack Kurdish fighters there and sparking international protests.
As recently as this week, Ankara has carried out airstrikes against Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The dispute over the Kurds quickly emerged as a sticking point as Sweden and Finland sought entry into NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Both countries imposed an arms embargo on Turkey after a 2019 attack on Kurds in Syria, which has since been lifted.
Turkey’s relations with its NATO allies have been strained in recent years. Reuters
Turkey has also taken issue with Sweden harboring PKK exiles, accusing the Stockholm government of supporting terrorism.
On Tuesday, the foreign affairs committee in the Turkish parliament approved Sweden’s NATO bid, bringing it closer to full membership.
Turkey has the largest military of any NATO member after the US, but is often a thorn in the side of its Western partners.
Syrian Kurdish women carry banners as they demonstrate against Turkey’s threat to launch a military operation in their territory in 2019. AFP via Getty Images
Beyond the Kurds, Turkey has clashed with Greece, a fellow NATO member that has a history of conflict with Ankara dating back centuries.
There have also been human rights concerns raised about Erdogan’s domestic crackdown following a failed coup in 2016.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
