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"Everyone must avoid impulsive decisions aimed at punishing the Palestinian people collectively"

Presidency Of The Republic Of Turkey

11.10.2023

Addressing AK Party's group meeting at the GNAT, President Erdoğan said: "Everyone must avoid impulsive decisions aimed at punishing the Palestinian people collectively, such as cutting off humanitarian aid. Taking a side blindly between the parties, which should both be criticized and supported given the methods they employ and their consequences, will only exacerbate the crisis."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the Justice and Development (AK) Party Group Meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (GNAT).

"WE SINCERELY WANT TO MARCH TOWARDS A SAFE, PEACEFUL, PROSPEROUS AND COMMON FUTURE WITH OUR ALLIES"

Drawing attention to Türkiye's ongoing fight against terrorist organizations, President Erdoğan noted: "We give no respite to the terrorists who harass our elements in the region and prepare to attack on our country from their hotbeds in the north of Syria and Iraq."

President Erdoğan said: "We are instantly crushing them with our air operations, artillery troops and land elements when need be. We will maintain our intensive air operations we have been carrying out for some time by further increasing them and by showing the members of the terrorist organization that we will wipe them out anytime, anywhere. No one should ever doubt that we will sooner or later respond to those who stand with terrorists during this fight of ours. We hope that those, who seek to maintain their calculations from the era of the Gulf War by backing the terrorist organization in Syria, will soon return to the commonsensical policies that our common national interests require. Türkiye, which respects the laws of every organization and every state that it has an alliance relationship, expects them to respect its own laws in a similar vein as well. Unless this balance can be redressed, it is everyone's legitimate right to develop their own policies and draw their own paths. We sincerely want to march towards a safe, peaceful, prosperous and common future with our allies."

"It is a must for everyone to accept that this country can no longer be directed through impositions, overt or covert political games, or insidious economic traps. We call on those, who still dream of the mandate system, to embrace a new political, diplomatic and economic relation model based on equal partnership, and to do what it requires. We have been living on these lands for a thousand years by paying the price. We are the host, not the guest, of this geography and civilization. It will be in the own interest of those, who are in the status of a guest here, to once again review their position and start acting accordingly," the President stated.

Underscoring that Türkiye is located in the world's most fragile region in terms of ethnic roots, faith and disposition differences, and political and social conflicts of interest, President Erdoğan said: "The 'Geography is destiny,' judgment by Ibn Khaldun, who was considered to be the world's first political scientist and sociologist, is the simplest and the most dramatic manifestation of this picture. Since we neither can change our history, geography and our fate these two have placed on us, nor have such an intention to do so, we have to follow as best, most accurate and safest path as possible under current conditions. We address with this understanding all the incidents in our near environ, form the Russia-Ukraine war to the conflicts in Caucasus, from the disputes in the Balkans to the conflicts in the Mediterranean. Also, we follow with this approach the recent developments that are taking place on Israeli and Palestinian lands and tend to spread to Golan Heights. Our stance on both our own fight against terror and on all the conflicts and wars in our region is pretty obvious."

"WE BELIEVE THAT WAR, TOO, HAS ITS OWN ETHICS"

President Erdoğan went onto say: "We do not approve of any act against civilians, or any attack on civilian residential areas. We believe that war, too, has its own ethics, and the sides should abide by them. Unfortunately, this principle is being brutally violated during the conflicts in Israel and Gaza. We strongly object to the killing of civilians in the Israeli lands. Likewise, we by no means approve of the indiscriminate massacre of innocents in Gaza by being subjected to constant bombardment. It is not a war but a massacre when you conduct a conflict using every kind of shameful methods by denying water, electricity and entrance-exit to a city, by destroying its infrastructure, by destroying its schools and its houses of worship from mosques to churches, by denying access to most basic humanitarian needs, and by bombing and razing to the ground its buildings inhabited by civilians. Israel's disproportionate attacks on Gaza that are devoid of any ethical basis may push it into an unexpected, undesirable position in the eyes of global public. Bombing civilian settlements, deliberately killing civilian people, hindering vehicles that bring humanitarian aid to the region and then presenting all this to the public as an achievement is a reflex of organizations not of states. Israel should not forget that if it acts like an organization, not as a state, it will eventually come to be regarded similarly."

"THE UNITED NATIONS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS HAVE LEFT THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE ALONE"

Warning that policies that are implemented by distorting concepts and notions, by recklessly attacking people's natural rights, and by violating promises cannot yield auspicious outcomes, President Erdoğan underscored that neither the region nor the world can any longer tolerate prolonged wars and tragedies in the region.

"This is not an issue of the oppressed and innocent people in the region alone. At the current point, this is an issue of honor for the entire world, for the global governance and security structure, for all the institutions that share responsibility and authority on this issue. One of the culprits for the deadlock in the Palestinian issue is the international community, which has not kept its promises. The United Nations and other organizations have left the Palestinian people alone, not fulfilling their promises and not protecting the Palestinians' rights. We are not saying these just now. We openly said all this to the whole world from the podium of the United Nations in the past."

Criticizing the provocative approach of the influential actors in the region that add fuel to the fire instead of ensuring calm, President Erdoğan called on America, Europe and the countries in other regions to take a fair and equitable stance based on the humanitarian balances between the parties. "Everyone must avoid impulsive decisions aimed at punishing the Palestinian people collectively, such as cutting off humanitarian aid. Taking a side blindly between the parties, which should both be criticized and supported given the methods they employ and their consequences, will only exacerbate the crisis. We are thus inviting the parties to act with constraint. We want the war in the region to stop immediately and the problems between the parties to be settled through negotiations."

"WE DON'T WANT ANY MORE BLOODSHED IN EITHER GAZA OR ISRAEL"

"We have held many telephone calls in this direction since Monday. We have had eight telephone conversations with heads of state and government including the Presidents of Palestine and Israel. We advised Mr. Abbas and Mr. Herzog to act with common sense and calm and with the knowledge of a statesman. Last night, we discussed this issue with President of Russia, Mr. Putin and UN Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres, as well. We expressed that we are ready to provide the necessary support to prevent the escalation and spread of the conflicts. As Türkiye, we stand ready to do whatever we can, including mediation and fair arbitration, to get our region out of this maelstrom quickly. We will inshallah preserve this stance until the very end," the President said.

Noting that Türkiye will use the close dialogue it has recently forged with all the countries in the region for the establishment of peace, President Erdoğan stated: "We don't want any more bloodshed and we don't want any more children, civilians and innocent people to die in either Gaza or Israel or Syria or Ukraine. The recent developments have once again reaffirmed our rightfulness in our motto that the World is bigger than 5. We will voice this objection of ours more loudly from now on."

"WE WILL NOT ACCEPT STEPS THAT DON'T RESPECT THE STATUS OF AL-HARAM AL-SHARIF"

Underlining that lasting peace in the region can be achieved only if an independent, geographically-integrated state of Palestine within the 1967 borders, with East al-Quds as its capital, drawing its legitimacy from the UN resolutions, is established and recognized by the entire world, President Erdoğan pointed out that resorting to any other paths or initiatives will only cause more destruction and suffering.

President Erdoğan further stressed: "We have not and will not accept steps and initiatives that don't respect the sanctity of Al-Quds, which houses the holy sites of the three heavenly religions, and the status of Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which is home to Al-Aqsa Mosque." Stating that Israel can maintain its presence and ensure its citizens' security only by doing so, President Erdoğan added: "Otherwise, the incidents taking place since Saturday will not be the last one and that even greater tragedies will inevitably follow them. We never want Israel, or Palestine or our region to slide into such an impasse."