Turkish President Abdullah Gül urged Israel to stop its “aggression,” warning that the attacks targeting the Gaza Strip have reached dangerous proportions.
“I am warning Israel once again. This aggression could lead to much graver developments. It will inevitably give rise to far more serious consequences,” Gül told reporters outside an İstanbul mosque following Friday prayers.
He said Israel's “unruly aggression is sowing seeds of hatred not only in Palestine but all around the world,” charging that Israel has “huge responsibility in [the spread of] radicalization” across the world.
Israel began a ground offensive in Gaza late on Thursday after a 10-day campaign of air strikes on Gaza, bringing the Palestinian death toll to at least 250.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a harsh critic of Israeli treatment of Palestinians, accused Israel once again of committing “genocide” and terror in Gaza and vowed that normalization of Turkish-Israeli relations will not happen as long as he is in power.
“Israel is a country that threatens world peace. It has never favored peace,” he told reporters on Friday. “I do not envision any progress [in ties] with Israel as long as I am in charge,” he said, though such a statement could harm his reputation in Western countries that are sympathetic to the Israeli position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The Western reaction might be different. But I have never tried to seem sympathetic to dominant powers, and I never will,” he said.
Turkey downgraded its diplomatic relations with Israel and suspended military ties after a deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish ship carrying humanitarian aid materials to Gaza in 2010. Reports over the past several weeks had suggested that a deal to put relations back on track was close.
In a statement on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns” the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza, noting that it led to an increasing number of Palestinian deaths, including those of many women and children.
It called on Israel to immediately halt the offensive and said talks for a sustainable cease-fire should begin as soon as possible.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has had talks with world leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the foreign minister of Qatar, as part of Turkey's diplomatic efforts to bring the attacks to an end, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Ankara is also involved in efforts to mobilize the UN Security Council, UN Human Rights Council and the OIC to hold sessions to discuss the Gaza crisis, the statement said.
Erdoğan also dismissed that the Israeli attacks in Gaza is linked to the June 12 abduction and subsequent killing of three Israeli teenagers, which Israel blamed on Hamas. According to the prime minister, the Israeli ground offensive is partly an attempt to sabotage Palestinian efforts to form a unity government that brings together the rival Palestinian factions of Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah.
Palestinian President Abbas, a politician from Fatah, is due to have talks with Gül and Erdoğan during a visit to Turkey later today.
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