Turkish president warns countries supporting Israel against participating in crimes

Tayyip Erdogan

ISTANBUL, November 22. /TASS/: The Western countries that have taken Israel’s side in its conflict with Palestine should refrain from participating in its crimes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"Before it’s too late, the governments of the countries that have sided with Israel should move to the side of international law, human rights, conscience and morality, and refrain from participating in these crimes. We need to side with those oppressed and save them from the steps that oppressors are taking," the Turkish leader told reporters upon return from Algeria.

"We have been talking about the Holocaust for several days; the Western public is unable to stand this test as it is on the wrong side of history. Massacres in Bosnia and Kosovo were ignored and hushed up. There was a shameful silence about Iraq and Syria," Erdogan noted.

"This time, it’s different," he went on to say. "As you know, the governments of these countries preferred to stand aside but their people are now saying: 'Enough of these atrocities.' <...> The politicians who are deaf to this voice will soon get a democratic response from their own people," Erdogan said.

According to him, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "should be viewed from the human perspective and no one should make a distinction between Muslims, Christians and Jews, as well as between people with various ethnic backgrounds."