Recep Tayyip Erdogan
On a visit to Germany on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he considered all faiths equal and denied claims that his attack on Israel had anti-Semitic undertones.
The Turkish leader was in Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which had been overshadowed by the growing civilian toll of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Erdogan was chastized in Germany for criticizing Israel’s actions in the war, which was sparked by massive Hamas strikes on October 7 that Israel said killed nearly 1,200 people, largely civilians, and took 239 hostages.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, the death toll in Gaza has reached 11,500 individuals, the vast majority of whom are civilians, including thousands of children.
On Friday, Erdogan further up his condemnation of Israel, claiming that shooting hospitals or killing children does not exist in the Torah.
He also defended himself against anti-Semitism claims.
“For us, there should be no discrimination between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the region. I have fought against anti-Semitism”, Erdogan stated during a joint press conference with Scholz.
“I am a leader who is leading this fight”, Erdogan continued.
However, he appeared to imply that Germany, a country where anti-Semitism is prohibited due to Berlin’s historic obligations in the Holocaust, was constrained in its ability to speak freely about the Israel-Hamas war.
“I speak freely because we do not owe Israel anything. We did not go through the Holocaust”, Erdogan remarked, implying that Germany owed him a psychological debt.
“If we were in debt, we could not talk so freely. But those who are in debt cannot talk freely”, Erdogan explained.
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