In His Own Words: Erdogan on "Israel", Hamas, & the Gaza Conflict

On January 29, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out of a panel that included "Israeli" president Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, further suggesting to skeptics that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is turning its back on the West. Erdogan also chided Peres for "being old" and said to him, "You [using the second person plural pronoun in Turkish, referring to either "Israelis" or Jews, or both] know very well how to kill people." Is Erdogan's Davos outburst an isolated event, or is it representative of the AKP's attitude toward the "Israeli"-Palestinian conflict? The AKP has denied criticism that it is moving Turkey away from the country's traditional pro-Western stance or that it is abandoning Turkey's historic position as a friend of both "Israelis" and Palestinians.

The following is a sampling of Erdogan's views on "Israel", Hamas, and Gaza, providing background to the debate about the AKP's foreign policy:

On "Israel"
• "Israel" has no place in UN
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/10792665.asp
Hurriyet, December 26, 2008
"How is such a country ["Israel"], which totally ignores and does not implement resolutions of the UN Security Council, allowed to enter through the gates of the UN [headquarters]?"

• "Allah will punish" "Israel"
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733177704&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Jerusalem Post, January 5, 2009
"Sooner or later, Allah will punish those who transgress the rights of innocents" -- at the conclusion of Erdogan's tour of the region during the Gaza conflict, which included stops in Egypt, Syria (where he had contacts with Hamas), Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, but not "Israel".

• "Israel" as oppressor and tyrant
http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2009/01/04//haber,685EAF2DE0594BB685E9FEE84650BDFE.html
Sabah, January 4, 2009
"My dear brothers, do not forget that you cannot improve through oppression. Do not forget that if you oppress innocent people, you will eventually be paid back along the way. Right now, we are witnessing a human tragedy. But I am sure that ‘Israel' will suffer in the future because of the pain they are causing in Palestine. They can find some supporters to advocate their tyranny, but keep in mind that the righteous ones will win in the end. ‘Israel' will have to face the death of all those innocent children who died on the streets and of all those vulnerable mothers. Their tears will not go unnoticed."

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_print.php?id=34375
World Bulletin, January 5, 2009
"Tears of children, defenseless women, and mothers will not be in vain. The tyrants will get drowned in those teardrops."

• "Israel" bears historical responsibility for the Gaza operations
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/63274/erdogan-humanity-is-dying-in-gaza-.html
The Journal of Turkish Weekly, January 13, 2009
Erdogan said that those who are silent about the attacks being staged in Gaza will bear historical responsibility regardless of why they are remaining silent. . . . Keeping silence and not taking any action is becoming a partner of the tragedy caused in Gaza. "Israel" and everyone silent are responsible for the deaths of innocent children in Gaza.

http://www.turkishweekly.net/print.asp?type=1&id=62914
Radikal, January 7, 2009
"‘Israel' makes calculations and thinks of the elections due in February. I am calling on [‘Israeli' defense (war) minister Ehud] Barak and [‘Israeli' foreign minister Tzipi] Livni to leave aside elections. History will judge you for overshadowing humanity."

• Gaza assault is "crime against humanity"
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/28/europe/EU-Turkey-"Israel"-Palestinians.php
International Herald Tribune, December 28, 2008
"To go and bomb these defenseless people, and to openly say that this operation will be a long-lasting one, that it will be this or that, to me, is a serious crime against humanity."

• "Israelis" "know very well how to kill"
http://w9.gazetevatan.com/Davos_zirvesinde_kriz_/220749/1/Manset
Vatan, January 29, 2009
"President Peres, I know you are older than I am, yet your voice is higher than mine. This is a sign of a guilty conscious. You [using the second person plural pronoun in Turkish, referring to either ‘Israelis' or Jews, or both] know very well how to kill. I also chide those who applaud this cruelty." -- speaking at a panel with "Israeli" President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

• "‘Israel' has become a country of bandits"
http://w9.gazetevatan.com/Davos_zirvesinde_kriz_/220749/1/Manset
Vatan, January 29, 2009
"A Jew writing in the Guardian, Avi Shlaim, says the same. ‘Israel' has become a country of bandits." -- speaking at a panel with "Israeli" president Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

On Gaza
• Gaza is like a "concentration camp"
http://www.stargazete.com/index.php?metot=mobile&islem=detail&id=160271
Star, January 6, 2009
"The Palestinian issue is like a bleeding wound. Gaza has been under siege for the last two years. People living there have been trying to survive in the world's largest open-air prison. They are left to suffer in what can almost be called a concentration camp."

On Hamas
• Hamas is not a terrorist group
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1059937.html
Haaretz, January 29, 2009
"President Obama must redefine terror and terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and based on this new definition, a new American policy must be deployed in the Middle East." -- addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

• Hamas is a "reform party"
http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/473840.asp
NTVMSNBC, January 30, 2009
"Hamas is a type of a reform party. Who made them what they are today? It was those who did not give them their democratic rights as the elected party." -- speaking at a panel with "Israeli" President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

• Hamas "fully abided" by the ceasefire
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1232643740818
Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2009
"Hamas, without a doubt, erred by firing rockets at ‘Israel', but we must consider that Hamas fully abided by the truce agreement with "Israel" for six months, even though ‘Israel' did not. . . . ‘Israel' didn't do anything to lift the blockade and open the crossings despite the agreement, and provoked Hamas and Gazans."

• Hamas should be offered a hand
http://www.presstv.ir/pop/print.aspx?id=82967
Press TV, January 19, 2009
"We should not be squeezing them [Hamas] into the corner after its war with ‘Israel'. . . . If we are to move toward democracy in that region, then we should respect the decision of the people who went to the ballot box." -- speaking at the European Policy Center in Brussels.

On the Jewish role in the "Israel"-Hamas conflict in Gaza
• 'Jewish' (Zionist)-influenced media is misrepresenting facts
http://www.habervaktim.com/haberyazdir.php?id=51785
Haber Vaktim, January 13, 2009
"While attacks on Gaza continue, the media is misinforming the world about the developments. The media, especially the media under 'Jewish' (Zionist) influence, is trying to make the death of all those innocent children look normal to the rest of the world. They constantly say that there has been a technical mistake. What kind of an excuse is that? They say that (so-called) 'terrorists' are hiding behind children. They must be joking!"

• Jews (Zionists) are violating the Old Testament
http://w9.gazetevatan.com/Davos_zirvesinde_kriz_/220749/1/Manset
Vatan, January 29, 2009
"It is written in the Old Testament that "Thou Shall Not Kill" but you are killing. "Israel's" barbarity is beyond cruelty." -- speaking at a panel with "Israeli" President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.