Turkish Foreign Minister Calls Israel a Burden to Humanity

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a CNN Turk interview that Israel is a problem for all of humanity and described its policies as a burden that political and economic systems cannot sustain. Fidan added that Israel is searching for a new enemy and stated Turkey has no problem with confrontation if it comes to that.

Sa’ar said Fidan’s words are textbook incitement to genocide and called on the civilized world and Turkey’s NATO allies to condemn the remarks. Sa’ar stated that dehumanizing the Jewish people as an unbearable burden is the classic language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes.

Erdogan last month threatened attacks on Israel, claiming Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon threaten Turkey. Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi declared several days earlier that Turkey will one day reclaim control over Jerusalem. Turkey and Israel were close to reconciliation before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, but relations deteriorated afterward.

In March of last year, Erdogan described Israel as a terror state after it launched strikes in the Gaza Strip. Several months later, Erdogan claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government represents the most significant threat to Middle East security.

In April, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office filed an indictment against 35 senior Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, over the seizure of a flotilla bound for Gaza.