Erdoğan on a collision course with Israel
After calling the radical Islamic terrorist organisation Hamas a liberation group last Wednesday, at the weekend Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan went on to accuse Israel of war crimes in its operations aimed at destroying Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which the West condones. Israel reacted with anger and withdrew all diplomatic representatives from Turkey. Europe’s press is also appalled.
Expel Turkish state imams
This must have consequences for Germany’s dealings with Turkey, the Welt makes clear:
“A first appropriate response would be to terminate the cooperation with the Turkish religious authority Diyanet that was agreed upon in the 1980s and to expel the approximately one thousand imams who work as officials of the Turkish state at the mosques of the Ditib association. ... Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the state, wanted nothing less for the Turkish Republic than for it to attain the ‘level of contemporary civilisation’ and even surpass it. A century later, Erdogan places Turkey not only outside the West, but also outside the civilised world.”
All trust has been squandered
Erdoğan can no longer be relied on, Visão observes:
“First with Ukraine and now with Israel, there is a growing sense of total mistrust regarding his political and military alignment. Turkey is a very powerful and important country for the West, but Erdoğan cannot be trusted. ... He is becoming more and more unreliable. If Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty were invoked, Erdoğan (not to be confused with Turkey) would be the first to revolt and leave Nato. He refuses to allow certain Turks to seek refuge in Sweden yet offers refuge to illustrious members of ‘liberation movements’ such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and an endless list of other terrorist organisations.”
Incitement against the West
Erdoğan is getting the Muslim community worked up, says republica.ro:
“Turkey will not send troops to Gaza, it will not attack Israel, but Muslims all the way from Pakistan to America have now mobilised. ... Erdoğan is relying on the transnational, global connections between Muslims. He is trying to get the Muslim population to rise up against the West, but also against moderate Arab leaders, like those of Egypt and Jordan or even the Palestinian Authority.”
