NATO Ally Turkey Condemns ‘Shameful’ Strike on Hamas Chief AP Photo

The Turkish government on Wednesday condemned the killing of Hamas terrorist Ismail Haniyeh in Iran as a “shameful” assassination that could escalate the Gaza war into a regional conflict.

“We condemn the assassination of the leader of Hamas’s political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in a heinous attack in Tehran,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We express our condolences to the Palestinian people, hundreds of thousands of whom, like Haniyeh, have been martyred in order to live peacefully in their homeland under the roof of their own state. The Netanyahu government’s lack of intention to achieve peace has been demonstrated once again,” the statement continued.

“This attack is also aimed at spreading the war in Gaza to a regional level. If the international community does not act to stop Israel, our region will face an even greater conflict,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

Turkey’s authoritarian Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was even more hyperbolic in a social media post on Wednesday morning, mourning Haniyeh as his “brother” and accusing the Israelis of “barbarism” for allegedly assassinating him.

“This assassination is a despicable act aimed at disrupting the Palestinian cause, the glorious resistance of Gaza, and the just struggle of our Palestinian brothers, and demoralizing and intimidating the Palestinians,” Erdogan railed.

Erdogan vowed that Turkey will “support our Palestinian brothers with all our means and all our strength.”

“We will continue to work for the establishment of a free, sovereign and independent State of Palestine, based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.

Erdogan was no fan of Israel before Haniyeh’s death, having compared the Israeli government to Nazi Germany. Two weeks ago, he said Turkey – an increasingly problematic member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – would block any NATO effort to cooperate with Israel.

On Monday, while holding forth at a rally for his AKP party, Erdogan threatened to invade Israel on behalf of the Palestinians.

“Just like we entered Karabakh and the way we entered Libya, maybe we’ll do the same thing. There’s nothing we can’t do. We have to be strong,” Erdogan said.

Turkey provided drones to the Islamist regime in Azerbaijan, helping it to conquer the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region by force in September 2023 and begin ethnically cleansing the Armenian Christians who live there. Turkish troops launched an outright military intervention in Libya in 2020.

Turkey does not recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization – on the contrary, Erdogan’s government actively encourages Hamas to hold rallies in Turkey – and Erdogan refused to condemn the October 7 atrocities perpetrated by the Palestinian terrorists. Instead, he insisted Hamas is “not a terrorist organization,” but rather a “liberation group” filled with “mujahideen” (Muslim holy warriors).

The AKP Party released its own statement on Wednesday claiming Israel “pulled the trigger” on a regional war by assassinating Haniyeh.

AKP spokesman Omer Celik called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his administration “the biggest obstacle to world peace.”

“This attack proves that the genocidal network is only going to increase its tyranny from now on,” he said.

“Initial reports say the assassination was carried out with a missile from another country. If this is true then it demonstrates Israel’s genocidal network,” he continued. The other country he obliquely referred to would most likely be the United States.

The exact circumstances around Haniyeh’s death in Tehran on Wednesday have not yet been revealed by the Iranian government. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli government has not claimed any involvement in his death.

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