From the BZ editorial team
Scandal speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (69) during his state visit to Berlin
The President of Turkey said NOT a word about the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th and said nothing about the women, men, children, babies and old people murdered by terrorists.
▶︎ Instead, Erdogan exclusively attacked Israel: There is practically no Gaza Strip anymore. “Everything has been razed to the ground,” he claimed. “We are talking about 13,000 children, women, old people who were killed.”
Killed terrorists? Do not occur in Erdogan’s world. Instead, he accused Israel of bombing hospitals – without mentioning that the Hamas deliberately places their tunnels and terrorist facilities near or under civilian facilities.
At least: Erdogan did not describe Hamas as a liberation organization again. People in political Berlin had expected worse.
Mosques and churches would also be destroyed. “Are we just going to stay silent about this? And if we don’t raise our voices, how will we look back and evaluate our silence?” asked the Turkish president, criticizing Western solidarity with Israel.
Erdogan also claimed that he had “always spoken out openly and clearly against anti-Semitism.” He “doesn’t owe Israel anything” regarding the Holocaust. Anyone who owes Israel something, on the other hand, “cannot speak freely.”
Erdogan complains about critical questions from a journalist
▶︎ Perpetrator and victim – swapped: Erdogan described Hamas terrorists captured by Israel as “hostages” and put them on the same level as the civilians kidnapped to Gaza. “We have to see that too. If we don’t see that, it wouldn’t be fair.”
Erdogan also criticized the media reporting, complaining: “Everyone talks about Hamas from morning to evening!” And asked whether the terrorists could even be compared with Israel’s military might. Of course, he did not mention the fact that Hamas is supported by major regional powers such as Iran.
Scholz emphasized Israel’s right to self-defense and made it clear that Hamas is responsible for the civilian victims and abuses people as a protective shield. Chancellor’s plain language at the end: Hamas is holding the population of Gaza hostage!
Following the press statements, Erdogan attacked a German journalist and complained about his critical questions. The dpa reporter asked, among other things, about Erdogan’s Israel agitation – he then rumbled that the journalist should ask other questions.
“Mr President, it is no secret that we have different – sometimes very different – views on this conflict,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz (65, SPD) tried to mediate right at the beginning. This makes the exchange all the more important.