"We can do it"

Erdogan threatens Israel with invasion “like in Libya”

(Bild: AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened Israel with military intervention. "Just as we went into Nagorno-Karabakh, just as we went into Libya, we will do the same to them," Erdogan said at an event organized by his ruling AKP party in Rize on the Black Sea, referring to Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz then compared Erdogan to the executed dictator Saddam Hussein. 

In his speech, Erdogan had referred to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where Turkey supported the conflicting party Azerbaijan with drones, among other things. In the civil war in Libya, Ankara is supporting the internationally recognized government with military equipment and personnel.

"We must be very strong"
In his speech, Erdogan praised the progress made in the Turkish defense industry and went on to say: "We must be very strong so that Israel cannot do these ridiculous things in Palestine," Erdogan said.

(Bild: AFP)

"Footsteps of Saddam Hussein"
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz then compared the Turkish President to the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein: "Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatening to attack Israel. He should only remember what happened there and how it ended," Katz wrote late in the evening on Platform X.

In 2003, US troops invaded Iraq. The military operation led to the overthrow of the then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Three years later, Hussein was executed for massacring Kurds and Shiites.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated drastically. Erdogan described the Islamist Hamas as a "liberation organization" and compared Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. In mid-July, Erdogan declared that his country would no longer agree to cooperation between NATO and its partner Israel in future until lasting peace was achieved in the Palestinian territories.