"Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a group for liberation," Turkish president says
"Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a group for liberation and of mujahideen fighting to protect their land and citizens," Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a speech Wednesday said, CNN reports.
He also announced that his trip to Israel had been canceled.
“The West got together and sees Hamas as a terror organization. Israel, you may act like an organization, because the West owes you a lot. But Turkey doesn’t owe you,” Erdogan said at the Turkish parliament.
Hamas is an Islamist organization with a military wing. The word “Hamas” is itself an acronym for “Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamiyya” – Arabic for the Islamic Resistance Movement. The group, like most Palestinian factions and political parties, insists that Israel is an occupying power and that it is trying to liberate the Palestinian territories. The group has over the years claimed many attacks on Israel and has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Israel.
The brutal attacks on October 7 were unprecedented, causing the death of more than 1,400 people in southern Israel. Hamas also seized more than 200 people as hostages and brought them to Gaza.
Erdogan said Turkey has "no problem with the state of Israel," but added that the country has "never approved of the atrocities committed by Israel."
Erdogan pointed out that approximately half of those killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza are children. "We say, do not kill children. Killing people, women and children—innocent people, for days on end cannot be justified, even if in response to some acts which we do not condone."
Since October 7, the Israeli military has launched relentless strikes and a complete blockade on the Palestinian enclave, killing at least 5,087 people, including 2,055 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The West is censoring and silencing academics, university students, and others, but Turkey's doors are fully open to "any university student or others due to their honorable position [of standing up for Palestinians]," he said.
