Erdogan: Türkiye does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization

Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a liberation group that fights to defend its land. This statement was made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting of his party’s parliamentary group. Text of the speech leads Posta.

“At the last meeting they got together and said that the whole West considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Israel, you can be an organization because the West owes you a lot of money, but Turkey doesn’t owe you anything. “Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a liberation and mujahideen group that is fighting to defend its land,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey has never condoned attacks on civilians, including Israeli civilians. At the same time, he said that Israel is “committing one of the most brutal attacks in history against the oppressed in Gaza.” The Turkish leader also added that the United States and Israel will lose because they oppose justice.

“Oh Israel, with this kind of thinking you can’t escape, even if you’re with the US or the West. America will lose too. The whole question is to create a just world, but they don’t want that,” he said (quote according to TASS).

Erdogan expressed the opinion that achieving peace in the region depends on the creation of an independent Palestinian state that would be recognized by all countries. “Otherwise, it is impossible to predict what radicalization will lead to. It is unknown where this fire will spread,” he said.

On October 7, the Gaza-based Palestinian group Hamas began hostilities against Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded by launching Operation Iron Swords, striking hundreds of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government announced that the country had entered a state of war. As a result of the fighting, according to the latest data, about 6,500 people were killed, including more than 5,000 from the Gaza Strip.

October 24 Erdogan during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and blamed Western countries for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The Turkish president said during the conversation that “the silence of Western states has brought the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip to an inevitable level.” The Turkish leader also added that Ankara will continue to make every effort to ensure calm in the region.