Erdogan called Israel "Occupier and War Criminal", Israeli Diplomats are Leaving Turkey

A day before the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, Istanbul's old airport saw perhaps the world's largest rally in defense of the Palestinians, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel an occupier and a perpetrator of war crimes for three weeks.

Reiterating his already-known position was seen primarily as a gesture to his sympathizers in Islamist circles in Turkey, but Israel reacted immediately. Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he was recalling the country's diplomatic representatives in Turkey "to reassess Israeli-Turkish relations." The ambassador in Ankara is Irit Lillian, who arrived at the post after a mission as ambassador in Bulgaria.

Erdogan spoke to a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, many waving Turkish and Palestinian flags. In an hour-long speech, he repeated his claim that Hamas is not a terrorist organization while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a terrorist and described Israel as an occupier. Part of the roots of his Justice and Development Party are in the Islamic Brotherhood organization, from which Hamas also originates.

"We will declare Israel a war criminal, we are already working on it," Erdogan at pro-Palestinian rally
Other statements:
▪️ Israel how did you end up here? How did you get here? You are an occupier. You are a faction, not a state. The West owes you, but Turkey does not owe… pic.twitter.com/eF5dh7wJeW

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 28, 2023

"Israel has been openly committing war crimes for 22 days, but Western leaders cannot even call for a ceasefire, let alone respond to it," he said. "We will tell the whole world that Israel is a war criminal. We are preparing for this. We will declare Israel a war criminal,"...