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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Israeli strikes on Syria and Lebanon have escalated to the point of putting Turkey itself at risk.
Getting into it: Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling party on Wednesday, Erdogan said Israel’s “aggression” posed a threat to the whole world and had to be stopped, framing Turkey’s security as bound up with its neighbors. “Turkey’s security begins not in Hatay, but in Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut,” he said, vowing not to tolerate attacks on what he called brotherly nations. He also accused Israel of pursuing “schemes” to destabilize the Eastern Mediterranean and warned that any move against the rights of Turks or Turkish Cypriots would draw a “very clear and very strong” response.
The remarks set off a war of words with Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded Erdogan “an antisemitic dictator” who supports Hamas, oppresses his own people and is committing “genocide against the Kurds,” calling him the last person fit to lecture Israel on morality. An Israeli minister labeled Erdogan a tyrant with blood on his hands. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry shot back, charging Netanyahu with peddling lies and vowing to keep pursuing Israeli leaders in international courts.
Erdogan’s Mediterranean warnings come amid reports of a joint Israel-Greece-Cyprus military force and deepening cooperation among the three countries. Notably, Cyprus this week alleged that Turkey had harassed planes that were ferrying European defense ministers to the island. The broader spat also follows Turkey’s interior minister telling ruling-party members that Turkey would one day bring about the “liberation” of Jerusalem, a vow Israel dismissed by saying that the “Ottoman Empire is gone.”
Once Israel’s closest partner in the region, Turkey has seen ties collapse since the October 7 Hamas attack, with Erdogan accusing Israel of genocide, hosting Hamas leaders, suspending all trade and comparing Netanyahu to Hitler. Israel, for its part, maintains that its operations target the threat Hezbollah poses in southern Lebanon and are permitted under the ceasefire terms, and has struck Syria hundreds of times since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
