President Erdoğan: We will close the ranks around our blessed cause and maintain our struggle despite those who try to disrupt our unity
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the Birlik (Unity) Foundation’s traditional iftar event.
“YET AGAIN THIS RAMADAN, CRIES AND SMOKES UNFORTUNATELY RISE IN THE REGIONS WE HOLD DEAR”
Describing Ramadan as a holy month of solidarity and sharing, President Erdoğan stressed that enemies of Islam and humanity are sparing no effort to spoil Muslims’ joy of Ramadan this year, too, as they have done every year. The President said: “The Israeli administration is yet again pouring bombs down on Gaza, which it has turned into an open-air prison through blockade and embargo. The bloodthirsty regime of Syria sees no harm in striking with barrel bombs hospitals and schools as well as civilians in Idlib in this day of Ramadan. In Yemen, hundreds of thousands of children suffer in the grip of famine as victims of a dirty war. In Libya, the atrocities of a contract killer are being overlooked just for the sake of oil wells. Yet again this Ramadan, cries and smokes unfortunately rise in the regions we hold dear, from Arakan to Somalia, Afghanistan to Iraq.”
“THE ISRAELI ADMINISTRATION HAS EVEN GONE SO FAR AS TO BOMB MEDIA OUTLETS AND THE HEADQUARTERS OF HUMANITARIAN AID ORGANIZATIONS”
Drawing attention to the international community’s silence regarding the Israeli administration’s attacks, President Erdoğan said: “Encouraged by the international community’s silence, the Israeli administration has even gone so far as to bomb media outlets and the headquarters of humanitarian aid organizations and they bombed our Anadolu Agency. They do so because they are an enemy of whoever tells the world about the dirty acts they commit.”
Pointing to the fact that none of the organizations that criticize Turkey on press freedom speak out against Israel’s actions, President Erdoğan said that such a stance amounts to not only double standards but also being a partner in cruelty.
Similar double standards are being witnessed on every issue from terror to coup d’état, added President Erdoğan, and continued: “Those who lecture the world on democracy dare provide protection to plotters of a bloody coup attempt which martyred 251 citizens of ours. Those who speak of human rights dare give red carpet treatment to the leaders of a terrorist organization which massacred tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Syria. Those who talk about peace see no harm in plunging our region, from Yemen to Libya, into bloodshed and suffering just in order to protect their interests. Those who keep talking about justice and freedoms remain silent in the face of the gallows established by the courts of the coup d’état in Egypt; on the contrary, member states of the European Union sit around the same table with Sisi and discuss with him possible future steps upon his invitation. This ambivalent attitude manifests itself one way or another in all the incidents, from the nefarious terrorist attack in New Zealand to the atrocious murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
