Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has cut off contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the aftermath of the Gaza war. In-person meetings between the two have already been canceled. However, other channels of conversation must remain open.
“Netanyahu is no longer a kind of interlocutor for us. We removed it, we crossed it out,” Erdogan said on the flight back from Kazakhstan on Saturday, according to a statement from his news agency.
That a back door remains open: However, Ankara does not intend to completely sever diplomatic relations with Israel.
Netanyahu has lost “the support of his citizens” and now wants to gain support for the “massacres” by using “religious terminology,” Erdogan said. Turkey is using all diplomatic options to “stop the bloodshed,” Erdogan said.
Conversation channels remain open
This included conversations with Israeli intelligence officials, the Foreign Ministry, as well as Hamas and the Palestinian authorities.
Erdogan also wants to discuss the Gaza war with Iran at the end of this month. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will also come to Turkey, Erdogan said. Erdogan also announced that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Riyadh would also discuss terms for a ceasefire at the end of November.
According to a report by Haberturk broadcaster, Erdogan said that if Israel is not stopped and held accountable for war crimes, there will be no confidence in the global system.
Meeting cancelled
Before the Gaza war began on October 7, Erdogan and Netanyahu met in person on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September and agreed to visit. As part of a normalization process, the Israeli head of government was originally expected to visit Turkey in early November.
Source: Krone
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