Erdogan again strongly condemned Israel’s continuing military operation in Gaza during a speech devoted to his country’s defense industry.
“We must be very strong so that Israel can't do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” he told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in his hometown of Rize.
“There is no reason why we cannot do this ... We must be strong so that we can take these steps,” he added in televised remarks cited by Reuters.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz hit back at Erdogan, saying that the Turkish leader is “following in the footsteps” of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was executed after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. “He should remember what happened there and how it ended,” Katz wrote in a post on X.
Turkey provided strong diplomatic and military support to Azerbaijan during the Karabakh war that broke out in September 2020. Turkish combat drones heavily used by the Azerbaijani army are believed to have been a key factor behind Baku’s military victory in the six-week hostilities.
According to the Armenian military, F-16 fighter jets of the Turkish Air Force, deployed in Azerbaijan shortly before the war, also participated in it, striking civilian and military targets across Karabakh. Some Armenian and Karabakh officials alleged at the time that Turkish ground forces were also involved in the Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations. Ankara and Baku denied such involvement.
Both Azerbaijani and Turkish flags were hoisted in the strategic Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) right after its fall in November 2020 which was followed by a Russian-brokered truce. Some 3,000 Turkish troops reportedly marched in a “victory parade” held in Baku in December 2020. Speaking during the parade, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev thanked Erdogan for his “resolute and brotherly stance.”
In addition, Western media reports backed up Armenia’s as well as France’s claims that Turkey recruited thousands of members of Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups and sent them to fight on Azerbaijan’s side. Ankara denied that as well.
Incidentally, Israel too supplied weapons to Azerbaijan before and during the 2020 war. Armenia recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv in protest just days after its outbreak. Baku’s relationship with the Jewish state remains cordial despite the Turkish-Israeli tensions.