Erdoğan pledges Türkiye as peace guarantor in Mideast

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared Türkiye's commitment to acting as a guarantor of peace amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

“Those who seek to profit from the tears of innocents will sooner or later understand how gravely they have made a mistake,” Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting on Aug. 5.

The president's remarks were delivered in a speech condemning Israel's attacks on Gaza. Regional tensions have surged after the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the Israeli killing of Hezbollah’s military chief, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut.

In response, Iran and Tehran-backed armed groups have vowed revenge.

“A strong Türkiye will be a guarantor of peace in our region,” Erdoğan said. “Our country, which has historically been a shelter for the oppressed, will maintain its quality of being a haven for the helpless.”

Erdoğan criticized the "aggressive stance" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

"No matter what the bloodthirsty genocide network does, it will not be able to prevent Türkiye and the Turkish nation from showing solidarity with the Palestinian people," he said.

"Despite Hamas' constructive stance, the Netanyahu administration has repeatedly shown that it intends to continue its policy of massacre."

Türkiye is set to participate in the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Aug. 7, joining proceedings initiated by South Africa, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced earlier in the day.

Ankara will submit a prepared file to support its intervention in the case, Fidan revealed during a press conference in Cairo.

"Türkiye stands by Palestine in these difficult days when it is struggling for existence and poverty, and is supporting its Palestinian brothers with all its means," Erdoğan said in his speech.

He also slammed the response of Western powers to Israel's attacks.

As long as these countries continue their current stance, Israel will "try every way to spread the fire in Gaza to the entire region," Erdoğan warned.

"Western actors, especially America, have unfortunately become captives of Israel and a handful of fanatic Zionists," he added.

Türkiye is exerting all efforts to end the "barbarism" that has claimed the lives of 40,000 innocents in Gaza over the past 10 months, Erdoğan said.

Last week’s killing of Haniyeh marked “a new threshold" in the Gaza crisis, Erdoğan said, expressing support for pressuring the Israeli government to a ceasefire and ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.