ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Saturday that he is cutting off communication with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to Israel’s brutal actions in Gaza.
Erdogan’s decision comes amid tensions between the two nations, with Turkey condemning Israel’s brutalities in Gaza, where Israeli forces have encircled the largest city.
“Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We have written him off,” Erdogan stated, as reported by Turkish media outlets. This announcement follows Israel’s recent declaration of re-evaluating its relations with Ankara due to Turkey’s increasingly heated rhetoric regarding the situation in Gaza and Israeli brutalities.
Erdogan Reveals Turkey’s Mediation Efforts
While Erdogan emphasized that Turkey was not completely severing diplomatic ties with Israel, he acknowledged the challenges in international diplomacy. He revealed that the chief of Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, was actively engaged in efforts to mediate an end to the ongoing conflict. Kalin has been in discussions with both Israeli representatives and Palestinian authorities, including Hamas, in an attempt to broker peace.
Erdogan placed the primary responsibility for the violence on Netanyahu, asserting that the Israeli Prime Minister had “lost the support of his own citizens.” He urged Netanyahu to step back and halt the escalation of hostilities in the region, highlighting the urgency for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Gaza.
