Erdogan to the West: Do you want a new crusade against the Crescent?

Recep Erdogan. Photo: TRT Haber

Turkish President Recep Erdogan spoke at the "Great Palestine Rally" held at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on 28 October 2023, reports TRT Haber.

He strongly criticised Israel's military action against Gaza and blamed the collective West for aiding the Israelis.

"We are faced with the remaining ambitions of those who avenged the 1453 conquest of Istanbul (the current name of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, conquered by the Ottomans in 1453 – Ed.). Remember, we don't forget those who wrote 1453 on the walls, do we? We will not leave this country to these marauders. We are faced with modern versions of those who tried to destroy our nation by provoking Armenians in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia and Greeks in the Aegean, Marmara and Black Seas. We face the unpaid bills of those who cut us apart politically, geographically, socially and economically over the past two centuries. We will not allow those who stole the sword of the infidels to overturn the truth by failing to realise this simple truth out of carelessness or trying to cover it up with treachery out of tolerance," Erdogan said.

He said those in the West "who shed crocodile tears for the civilians who died yesterday in the Ukraine-Russia war are today silently watching the deaths of thousands of innocent children."

"You weep for the dead in Ukraine, why don't you speak out in defence of these babies killed in Gaza? Oh, West, I cry out to you, do you want to start your crusade against the Crescent again? If you are making such efforts, know that this nation is not dead," the Turkish president said.

He called Israel's actions in Gaza a "massacre" and reminded that the West "knows how to kill".

"Yesterday they were killing one another, massacring Jews in gas chambers and wiping cities and their inhabitants off the map with the atomic bombs they dropped. The same mentality is seen in the Gaza Strip today," Erdogan said. He claimed the deaths of 3,600 children, while the total number of victims, he said, reached 7,700.

Earlier, Erdogan said Jews will seek mercy in Turkey as they did 500 years ago.

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