Türkiye’s Erdogan Accuses Israel of Committing ‘Intentional Massacre’ in Gaza

A handout photo made available by the Turkish President Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waving as he addresses members of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at their parliamentary group meeting at the parliament in Ankara, Türkiye, 25 October 2023. (EPA/Turkish President Press Office Handout)

17:00-25 October 2023 AD ـ 11 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1445 AH

Türkiye’s Erdogan Accuses Israel of Committing ‘Intentional Massacre’ in Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his strongest comments yet on the Gaza conflict, said on Wednesday the Palestinian militant group Hamas was not a terrorist organization, but a liberation group fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people.

He accused the West of hypocrisy for failing to respond to what he called Israel's "intentional massacre" in Gaza with the same decisiveness as it did to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

NATO member Türkiye condemned the civilian deaths caused by Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, but also urged Israeli forces to act with restraint. As the violence and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza have worsened, Ankara has strongly criticized Israel's bombardment of the territory.

"Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group, 'mujahideen' waging a battle to protect its lands and people," he told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, using an Arabic word denoting those who fight for their faith.

Unlike many of its NATO allies and the European Union, Türkiye does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and hosts members of the group on its territory. Ankara backs a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Erdogan also slammed Western powers for supporting Israel's bombing of Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire, the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and for Muslim countries to work together to stop the violence.

"The perpetrators of the massacre and the destruction taking place in Gaza are those providing unlimited support for Israel," Erdogan said. "Israel's attacks on Gaza, for both itself and those supporting them, amount to murder and mental illness."

Erdogan's comments drew a swift rebuke from Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who said they were "grave and disgusting and did not help with de-escalation". He urged Italy's foreign minister to lodge a formal protest with Ankara.

The fighting in Gaza comes at a time when Türkiye is working to mend its ties with Israel after years of acrimony, focusing on energy as an area of cooperation.

Indicating that those normalization efforts were now suspended, Erdogan accused Israel of taking advantage of Türkiye’s "good intentions" and said he had cancelled a previously planned visit to Israel.

"I shook the hand of this man named Netanyahu one time in my life," Erdogan said, referring to his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month.

"If he (Netanyahu) had continued with good intentions, our relations might have been different, but now unfortunately, that will not happen either because they took advantage of our good intentions," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in Doha that Israel's planned ground invasion of Gaza would turn the violence there into a "massacre", adding that countries supporting Israel were "accomplices" to its crimes.

North Korea Sent More Conventional Weapons to Russia, South Korea Says

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

06:43-20 November 2024 AD ـ 19 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

North Korea Sent More Conventional Weapons to Russia, South Korea Says

North Korea recently supplied additional artillery systems to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine, while some of the thousands of North Korean troops deployed in Russia have begun engaging in combat, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday.

The South Korean assessment came after Russia warned Monday that US President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied longer-range missiles adds “fuel to the fire” of the war. US officials said Biden’s decision was triggered almost entirely by North Korea’s entry into the war.

In a closed-door briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service said that North Korea exported 170mm self-propelled guns and 240mm multiple rocket launch systems to Russia, according to lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the meeting.

Lee told reporters that the NIS assessed those weapons are a type of artillery the Russian military doesn’t operate so North Korea likely dispatched personnel to teach the Russians how to use them and handle their maintenance.

Last week, Russian Telegram channels and other social media posts published photos apparently showing North Korean’s “Koksan” 170mm self-propelled guns being moved by rail inside Russia. The Financial Times, citing Ukrainian intelligence assessments, reported Sunday that North Korea in recent weeks sent some 50 domestically produced 170mm self-propelled howitzers and 20 240mm multiple launch rocket systems to Russia.

The artillery systems are the latest conventional weapons that North Korea is believed to have provided to Russia as the two countries are sharply expanding their military cooperation in the face of separate confrontations with the US and its allies. Last month, the NIS said that North Korea had sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

During its Wednesday briefing, the NIS said that an estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers in late October were moved to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops seized parts of its territory this year, following their training in Russia's northeast, Lee said. He cited the NIS as saying the North Korean soldiers were assigned to Russia’s marine and airborne forces units and some of them have already begun fighting alongside the Russians on the frontlines.

The US, Ukraine and others have similar estimates on the size of North Korea's troop deployment. They say the North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia in October and that some of them have since engaged in combat in the Kursk region. Observers say North Korea's participation in the almost 3-year war threatens to escalate the conflict.

Park Sunwon, another lawmaker who was present at the NIS meeting, made similar comments on the briefing. He said the spy agency couldn’t provide an assessment on possible North Korean casualties.

Moscow said Tuesday that Ukraine fired six US-made ATACMS missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region, in what would be Kyiv’s first use of the weapon inside Russia. Ukraine’s General Staff did not confirm whether the weapon was used, but said the armed forces struck an ammunition warehouse in the Bryansk region, which neighbors Kursk and was likely supplying Russian forces fighting there.

Since the first year of the war, Ukrainian leaders have lobbied Western allies to allow them to use advanced weapons to strike key targets inside Russia.

Türkiye’s Erdogan Accuses Israel of Committing ‘Intentional Massacre’ in Gaza

Türkiye’s Erdogan Accuses Israel of Committing ‘Intentional Massacre’ in Gaza

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North Korea Sent More Conventional Weapons to Russia, South Korea Says

North Korea Sent More Conventional Weapons to Russia, South Korea Says

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