Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan launches one of his strongest attacks yet on Israel over its offensive in the Gaza Strip, accusing the Jewish state of showing “Hitler-like fascism” against the Palestinians.
Speaking at a mass rally in eastern Turkey to promote his candidacy in presidential elections, Erdogan says he’s happy to give back an award that was bestowed upon him by an American Jewish group in 2004.
The American Jewish Congress wants the decoration to be returned after protesting Erdogan’s bitter attacks where he has compared Israel to the Third Reich which slaughtered millions of Jews in the Holocaust.
“If you support this cruelty, this genocide, this Hitler-like fascism and child murderer regime, take your award back,” Erdogan says at the election rally in the eastern province of Van.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan weara a keffiyeh during a July 22, 2014 AKP party meeting as a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people (photo credit: AFP/Adem Altan)
In typically bombastic mood wearing a casual shirt and sunglasses, Erdogan shows no sign of reining in rhetoric that has angered not just Israel but also Ankara’s NATO ally the United States.
“What is the difference between Israeli actions and those of the Nazis and Hitler?” he asks.
“How can you explain what the Israeli state has been doing in Gaza, Palestine, if not genocide?” he says.
“This is racism. This is fascism. This is keeping Hitler’s spirit alive,” he adds.
— AFP
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