US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: AP / AFP
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The statements of the President of Turkey about Israel are anti-Semitic and reprehensible, the United States believes. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also incited the Austrian authorities, who have called the Turkish ambassador to the country to the carpet.
Just updated
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The US State Department is cracking down on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The United States strongly condemns his recent anti-Semitic statements about the Jewish people, and we find them reprehensible,” State Department spokesman Ned Price wrote in a statement. statement late Tuesday night.
The United States does not write specifically which statements from Erdogan they react to, but they make it clear that these are statements that have been made in connection with the ongoing Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
– We ask President Erdogan and other Turkish leaders to refrain from comments that could contribute to new acts of violence. We ask Turkey to work with the United States to end the conflict, the US State Department continues.
Death rates are rising
Erdogan has not yet commented on the statement from the United States.
The Turkish president, who has previously said that he sees Israel’s air strike in Gaza as an attack on all Muslims, said Monday that he means Israel is a terrorist state that carries out massacres of the Palestinian people.
– You use disproportionate force, and you drop bombs on Gaza with your warplanes. Does Gaza have warplanes? No. Theirs, with their air strikes, are innumerable, he continues.
The violence between Israel and Hamas is now in its second week, and at least 218 Palestinians, including 63 children, have lost their lives so far. Twelve people – including two children – have died in Israel, writes Al Jazeera.
To attack Biden
The Turkish president also took a hard line against US President Joe Biden, writes the Turkish newspaper Liberty.
Biden has stated several times that he believes Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other militant groups. On Monday night, he went out for the first time and said that he supports a ceasefire between the parties.
“Unfortunately, you are writing history with your bloody hands when it comes to the grossly disproportionate attacks in Gaza, which have turned hundreds of people into martyrs,” Erdogan said on Monday – pointing out that the Biden administration recently has approved an arms sale to Israel.
The sale was approved before the last escalation of the conflict.
Relations between Biden and Erdogan are already tense after Biden acknowledged that the Armenians was subjected to genocide in the Ottoman Empire about 100 years ago. The two heads of state are scheduled to meet during the NATO summit in Brussels in June, writes AFP.
—-IN MICHIGAN: Joe Biden met with US-Palestinian Congressman Rashida Tlaib in Michigan on Tuesday. There were large protests in support of the Palestinians in the area. Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP
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Austria: “Absurd”
Erdogan has also stirred up Austria: On Monday, he criticized the country’s decision to hoist the Israeli flag on government buildings – something that was done in solidarity with Israel last week.
“I curse the Austrian government that has hoisted the Israeli flag on its building,” Erdogan said on Monday, suggesting that “Austrian authorities are trying to get Muslims to pay the price for the genocide they committed against the Jews” – a reference to the Holocaust during World War II.
On Tuesday, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg summoned Turkey’s ambassador to the carpet over what he calls “absurd” comments from Erdogan.
– It will not be possible to resolve the Middle East conflict while we are foaming at the mouth. Instead of pouring petrol on the fire, Turkey should help calm the situation, says the foreign minister according to AP.
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