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‘Our Martyrs Are the Same’: Turkish Leaders Accuse Israel of Seeking Territorial Expansion Beyond Gaza
Supporters of Hamas demonstrating outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. Photo: Reuters/Onur Dogman
The son of Turkey’s president on Friday called on fellow citizens to attend a New Year’s Day march in Istanbul billed as a gesture of support for Palestinian “martyrs,” alleging that Israel’s goal in its war against Hamas was to occupy more territory that rightfully belonged to Muslims.
In an extensive interview with broadcaster TVNET, Bilal Erdogan — the second of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s four children — railed against those Turkish politicians he claimed were opposed to the march and insisted that Western governments were out of step with public opinion in their support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza triggered by the Oct 7. pogrom carried out by Hamas terrorists.
The younger Erdogan asserted that there was an organic connection between Turkey and the Palestinians. “The killers of Palestinian martyrs and the killers of our martyrs are the same,” he said. “Those who press this button are from the same centers.”
President Erdogan has himself made similar claims, stating in a Dec. 4 speech that Israel’s military response would eventually pose a threat to Turkey’s “own security and territorial integrity.”
“We know very well that those who occupy Gaza today will set their sights on other places tomorrow,” Erdogan told a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “As a matter of fact, they do not even feel the need to hide these intentions anymore. Gaza butcher Netanyahu himself revealed in front of the cameras that the issue is not Gaza or Ramallah but that he is pursuing expansionist goals.”
In his interview on Friday, Bilal Erdogan echoed his father’s rhetoric, demonizing Israel as “Nazi” and calling for its leaders to be tried for war crimes. He also turned on Turkish critics of the government’s foreign policy, calling them “agents of Israel.”
“May Allah punish those who make such a polarization of society, and may Allah damn them,” he ranted.
On Friday, Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) issued a damning critique of Erdogan’s foreign policy, accusing the president of using Turkish diplomacy to further his own ends.
In a statement, the party’s foreign policy spokesperson, Ilhan Uzgel, argued that Turkish foreign policy had never been as “personalized” as it is now.
“We don’t know what Erdogan is negotiating with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” he said. “There is no longer any relationship between Turkey and Qatar, there is a relationship between Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar. What is the benefit of this to Turkey, what is the harm, we do not know.”
Turkey has ridden a wave of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 atrocities. Among the legislative proposals currently being debated by the Turkish parliament is a ban on individuals from holding joint Turkish and Israeli citizenship and another on the sale of land in Northern Cyprus — illegally occupied by Turkey since 1974 — to “Jews and Israelis.”
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
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