The Turkish president sees Turkish support for Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh and for the Libyan government as a possible model for military intervention in the Middle East.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened Israel with military interference. “Just as we entered Nagorno-Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we will do the same with them,” Erdoğan said at an event of his ruling party AKP in Rize on the Black Sea, referring to Israel.
He was referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where Erdoğan supported the conflict party Azerbaijan, among other things, with drones. In the war-torn country of Libya, Ankara supports the internationally recognized government with military equipment and personnel.
Relations with Israel Rapidly Deteriorated
In his speech, Erdoğan praised the advances in the Turkish defense industry and added, “We must be very strong so that Israel cannot carry out these ridiculous things in Palestine,” Erdoğan said.
Since the onset of the Gaza war, relations between Israel and Turkey have drastically worsened. Erdoğan referred to the Islamist Hamas as a “liberation organization” and compared Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. In mid-July, Erdoğan stated that his country would no longer agree to cooperation between NATO and partner Israel until a sustainable peace was established in the Palestinian territories.
Israel’s Response: “Erdoğan is Following in Saddam Hussein’s Footsteps”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned Erdoğan after his threat: “Erdoğan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens an attack on Israel. He should just remember what happened there and how it ended,” Katz wrote late in the evening on the platform X.
In 2003, US troops invaded Iraq. The military operation led to the overthrow of then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Three years later, Hussein was executed for the massacres of Kurds and Shiites. (APA/dpa)