Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday called on Islamic nations to ally against “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.
He made the remarks a day after the death of a dual U.S.-Turkish citizen during a protest near Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria. The Israel Defense Forces is investigating allegations that Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, an activist with the anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement, was shot by Israeli forces.
“The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries,” Erdoğan said at an Islamic schools’ association event near Istanbul.
Erdoğan has become increasingly hostile toward the Jewish state and closer to Hamas since the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. The Turkish president and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), along with Qatar, are state supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is the Palestinian branch.
In his speech, the president claimed that Jerusalem aims to conquer Muslim territory, including Turkey, and quoted claims that Hamas was not only defending Gaza but his country and other Islamic lands.
“Israel will not stop at Gaza. After conquering Ramallah, it will want the lands of Syria and Lebanon. They will raise their eyes to our homeland, between the Tigris and the Euphrates. They state this openly in every map they show,” he said, referring to the “Greater Israel” map displayed by some Israeli leaders.
“This is why we say that ‘Hamas opposes in the name of the Muslims.’ This is why we say that ‘Hamas does not only defend Gaza, it defends on the Islamic lands, on Turkey,'” Erdoğan asserted.
The Turkish leader went on to state that the latest steps Ankara has taken to improve relations with Egypt and Syria are aimed at “establishing a front of solidarity against the growing threat of expansion” on the part of Israel.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was in Turkey last week for the first presidential-level visit in 12 years amid warming relations between Cairo and Ankara. In July, Erdoğan said that he was ready to host Syrian President Bashar Assad for talks on renewing relations between the two countries that were severed in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticized the Turkish leader’s comments in an X post on Saturday evening, saying that he “continues to throw the Turkish people into the fire of hatred and violence for the sake of his Hamas friends.
“Today, he calls on Islamic nations to form an alliance against Israel, claiming ‘Israel wants to conquer countries in the region, including Turkey.’ This is a dangerous lie and incitement. Israel is defending its borders and citizens from the murderers and rapists of Hamas, and from the Shi’ite axis of evil led by Iran. Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood alliance have been working for years alongside Iran to undermine moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East. Erdogan should be silent and ashamed.”