Turkey presses UN for arms embargo on Israel in joint letter with 52 countries
Russia, China, Iran among signatories of missive, which comes a month after Erdogan’s similar demand to UN; Turkish FM: ‘Selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide’
Turkey’s foreign minister said Sunday that it had submitted a letter to the United Nations, signed by 52 countries and two inter-governmental organizations, calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel.
“We have written a joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel. We delivered this letter, which has 54 signatories, to the UN on November 1,” said Hakan Fidan at a press conference in Djibouti, where he was attending a Turkey-Africa partnership summit.
“We must repeat at every opportunity that selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide,” said Fidan, adding that the letter is “an initiative launched by Turkey.”
Among the signatories were Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Algeria, China, Iran and Russia. The Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, both inter-governmental organizations within the UN, also signed the document.
Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the UN to impose an arms embargo on Israel. He said the measure would be an “effective solution” to end Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, which was sparked when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Erdogan has been a harsh critic of Israel throughout the war in Gaza, at one point appearing to say he would invade Israel to end the war. In May, he banned trade with Israel, ending the two countries’ robust economic ties.
Erdogan also met with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul in April, several months before he was slain in an explosion in Tehran widely attributed to Israel. Government officials told The Times of Israel earlier this year that Hamas’s leadership had briefly moved from Qatar to Turkey that month amid tensions with Doha.
Some of Israel’s allies have also floated restricting arms deliveries to the country. French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that an arms embargo is the only way to end the war in Gaza. In September, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer halted the delivery of some weapons out of fear they could be used to commit war crimes, but stopped short of calling for a full embargo. Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly also announced in September that she was suspending some 30 permits for arms shipments to Israel, saying Ottawa would not have “arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza.”
Israel’s two largest arms sources, the United States and Germany, have resisted calls for an embargo on Israel, though each has been accused of withholding certain arms during the war.
