Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that Islamic countries should form an alliance to counter Israel’s “growing threat of expansionism.”
A protest was held last Friday against Israel’s continued expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Turkish-American woman Aysenur Ezgi Aygi participated in it.
Palestinian and Turkish officials have reported that Israeli soldiers killed Aysenur by shooting her in the head.
The White House has expressed “extreme frustration” over the incident of a U.S. citizen being killed by Israeli soldiers’ gunfire. The United States has also called on Israel to investigate this incident.
Erdogan attended an event organized by the Islamic Schools Association near Istanbul yesterday, Saturday.
There, Erdogan spoke about the illegal expansion of Jewish settlements. He said unity is the only step that can stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli piracy, and Israeli state terrorism in Islamic countries.
Erdogan also mentioned that Turkey has recently taken several steps to improve relations with neighboring Egypt and Syria. He said the goal of these steps is to build a bond of unity against the growing threat of expansionism.
The Turkish President also stated that Israel’s “increasing expansionism” has become a threat to Lebanon and Syria.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has condemned Erdogan’s statement. He said Erdogan’s statement is “dangerous lies and provocative.” Foreign Minister Katz also commented that Erdogan is working with Iran to influence the less radical countries in this region.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will visit Turkey this week. Erdogan will welcome him in Ankara. The two leaders will discuss the Gaza war situation in their meeting.
This is the first visit at the presidential level between the two countries in the last 12 years. During this visit, the two leaders will also discuss improving the long-standing icy relations between Turkey and Egypt.
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