President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that Türkiye, along with a large number of legal experts, will file a legal complaint against Israeli offensives against Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of more than 10,000 civilians, citing them as crimes against humanity and genocide.
"Currently, we are planning to lodge a complaint about this genocide with the necessary authorities, with the support of over 2,000 lawyers. We will relentlessly pursue this matter; we cannot abandon it midway, and the cost for these actions will be paid,” Erdoğan said during his speech at a student gathering event in Istanbul on Nov. 18.
“The crime against humanity and genocide committed by Israel” must be monitored and investigated at the international level, and the “oppressors” must be punished, Erdoğan said, citing that without such accountability, no individual or society in the world would feel secure.
"If any terrorist entity, backed by powers such as the United States and Europe, can indiscriminately massacre people and carry out atrocities bordering on genocide, the global order is fundamentally disrupted. Like any flawed system, the inevitable change of this order is imperative. We are committed to articulating these truths, bringing the demand for change to the world agenda, and doing our part by sharing it with every representative of countries we engage with,” the president said.
Erdoğan earlier denounced Israel as a terror state over its relentless strikes and offensives in Gaza, which caused both civilian casualties and a severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged strip since Oct. 7.
In the meantime, during a joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany in Berlin on Nov. 17, Erdoğan emphasized the need for collective responsibility to achieve a fair and lasting peace in the Middle East, particularly amid the ongoing Gaza crisis.
“As Türkiye, our aim is to establish a climate where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace, where calm and security prevail. I believe everyone should take responsibility to ensure a fair and lasting peace in the Middle East," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan lashed out at Israel over its air and ground campaign in Gaza, saying, "Shooting hospitals or killing children does not exist in the Torah, you can't do it."
In talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier earlier in the day, Erdoğan had said that "Israel's attacks on Palestinian lands must end and that the reaction from the whole world against human rights violations is important," the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
In Berlin, Erdoğan denied that his attacks against Israel were anti-Semitic, saying that he had "fought against anti-Semitism."
Instead, he suggested that Germany, where anti-Semitism is illegal because of Berlin's historic responsibilities over the Holocaust, was limited 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," Erdoğan said, suggesting that Germany carried a "psychological debt."
Standing next to Erdoğan, Scholz acknowledged "it is no secret" that both sides viewed the conflict differently.
"That's why in these difficult moments, we need direct talks with each other," he said.