The Turkish president sees Turkish support for Nagorno-Karabakh and the Libyan government for Azerbaijan as potential precedents for military intervention in the Middle East.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened military intervention against Israel. “We will do the same to them as we did to Nagorno-Karabakh, as we did to Libya,” Erdogan said at an event held by his ruling AKP party, Rise on the Black Sea, considering Israel.
He refers to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where Erdogan supported the conflicting party, Azerbaijan, with drones. In civil war-torn Libya, Ankara supports the internationally recognized government with military equipment and personnel.
Relations with Israel deteriorated rapidly
In his speech, Erdogan praised the progress made in Turkey’s defense sector and continued: “We must be very strong so that Israel cannot do these ridiculous things in Palestine,” Erdogan said.
Since the start of the Gaza war, relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated dramatically. Erdogan described Islamist Hamas as a “liberation organization” and compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. In mid-July, Erdogan announced that his country would not accept future cooperation between NATO and its ally Israel until a stable peace was established in the Palestinian territories.
Israel’s response: “Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned Erdogan: “Erdogan is threatening to follow in Saddam Hussein’s footsteps and attack Israel. He needs to remember what happened there and how it ended,” Katz wrote on stage X earlier in the evening.
In 2003 US forces invaded Iraq. The military operation led to the ouster of then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Three years later, Hussein was hanged for massacring Kurds and Shiites. (APA/dpa)
