“Support for Palestine, curse for Israel”

250,000 people demonstrated in Istanbul against Israel and for the Turkish soldiers who died in the fight with the PKK. The protest raises questions.

Istanbul – According to Turkish media, in Istanbul on Monday (January 1st, 2024) 250,000 people protested for and against killed Turkish soldiers Israel demonstrated. Several organizations and also the family of the Turkish president called for the demonstration “Mercy for our martyrs, support for Palestine, curse for Israel”. Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The martyrs on both sides are for them Türkiye the same thing, said Bilal Erdogan, the Turkish president's son, during his speech at the demonstration. This refers to the soldiers killed in the fight with the PKK and the Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks. “We promise that we will not be indifferent to these events and that we will continue to call for law and justice throughout the world,” Bilal Erdogan said. Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians. “We promise to secure and strengthen our unity against the Zionist order that America stands behind. We promise to continue the boycott. This will not end with a ceasefire.”

Trade between Türkiye and Israel continues despite verbal attacks

However, the call for a boycott appears to be only half-hearted. In recent months it has become known again and again that Turkish merchant ships are being spotted in Israeli ports. Over 500 Turkish merchant ships have now entered Israeli ports, writes exiled Turkish journalist Metin Cihan on X, based on data from the ship information service “Marine Traffic”.

The shipping companies also apparently belong to companies that are close to Erdogan and his family. “It is such a dishonorable trade that we cannot even send one medicine to Palestine while sending hundreds of ships to Israel,” the journalist writes.

Erdogan compares Netanyahu to Hitler

The Turkish president has repeatedly sharply attacked Israel and its prime minister in recent months. Recently, Erdogan even compared the Israeli head of government to Hitler. “What is the difference between you and Hitler? They'll even make us start missing a Hitler. Is Netanyahu inferior to Hitler in anything,” Erdogan asked in a speech. Netanyahu, on the other hand, responded to the verbal attacks from Ankara in a sharp tone. “Erdogan, who is committing genocide against Kurds and imprisoning journalists, is the last person who should teach us a moral lesson.

Türkiye attacks Kurds in northeast Syria

The criticism of Turkey is also not unfounded. “Between December 23 and 26, Turkish warplanes and drones carried out 74 attacks on the critical infrastructure of northern and eastern Syria (medical facilities, cultural assets, water and food supplies), which is internationally considered a war crime,” several organizations wrote in an open letter to the federal government and demand that it condemn this. Turkey is said to have attacked northeastern Syria (Kurdish: Rojava) 798 times throughout 2023. The signatories criticize that several medical facilities were also destroyed, which were also supported by German aid organizations. The attacks would force people in the region to flee.

The Turkish president, on the other hand, claims that the Turkish attacks in neighboring Syria and Iraq are intended to combat the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). “Neither the terrorist barons in the Qandil Mountains and Syria nor those who hold the leashes of these traitors will divert us from our path,” Erdogan promised in his speech on Christmas Day. (Erkan Pehlivan)