Demanding an end to Turkey-Israel relations, Thousands of protestors took to the streets in Istanbul this Sunday, with Turkish police arresting dozens.
Thousands of protestors gathered in Turkey’s Istanbul this Sunday, calling for an end to Turkey- Israel relations amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Angry at their President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his dual attitude over the war between Israel and Hamas, protestors rebuked Erdogan’s harsh public condemnations of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, while at the same time continuing to allow Turkish companies to export food, oil, energy, and steel to Israel.
As protestors were marching in Istanbul, police came to the scene quite violently and used brutal tactics to arrest 43 protesters. The Turkish Minister of Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, released a statement acknowledging the arrests.
“After the protest ended, the demonstrators dispersed, but one group did not disperse despite all warnings; They resisted the security forces by insulting state officials,” he wrote on the social media site X.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7 last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been among the Muslims leaders who has talked dozens of times in support for Palestine. The Turkish president has also rebuked Israel with the harshest language possible on many occasions, blaming the Israeli government for killing so many Palestinians in Gaza.
In one of his latest speeches on the matter, Erdogan attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and vowed at a March 21 local election rally to “send him [Netanyahu] to Allah to take care of him, make him miserable and curse him”. Erdogan has also previously compared Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, accusing the Israeli PM of being guilty of horrendous war crimes in Gaza.
Erdogan is the master of hypocrisy!
Despite all the harsh criticisms that Erdogan has made against Netanyahu and his government over the Gaza war, the Turkish President is still having trade relations with Israel. To make matters worse, latest reports suggest that Turkey has indeed increased trade volumes with Israel even as Israel is still killing Palestinians in Gaza.
According to one report, “Turkey’s goods exchange with Israel has plunged nearly 50% since the start of the unprecedented Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip in early October.” According to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s Foreign Trade Statistics Database, items exported to Israel include precious metals, chemicals, insecticides, nuclear reactor parts, gunpowder, explosives, aircraft parts, and weapons and ammunition.
Other reports even suggest that Erdogan is looking for improving diplomatic relations with Israel. “After suffering a drastic defeat in the local elections last Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now reportedly seeks to restore his country’s ties with Israel after months of incitement and open support for the Hamas terrorist organization,” Israeli newspaper Maariv reported this Monday.
Even when Erdogan threatened to “send Netanyahu to Allah”, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned the Turkish deputy ambassador to Israel for explanation. There, the Turkish diplomat assured Katz that Erdogan’s harsh rhetoric against Israel is all because of his political considerations in the local elections in Turkey.
“Once the elections were over, Turkey would start restoring the deeply strained relations by returning Turkey’s ambassador to Israel and inviting Israel’s ambassador to return to Ankara,” he claimed.
