Speaking to a crowd of hundreds of thousands, Erdogan charged that the West is mostly to blame for the conflict in Gaza.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upheld his position that Hamas is not a terrorist group and called Israel an occupier in its conflict in Gaza during a sizable pro-Palestinian demonstration in Istanbul.
“Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, I say again. This deeply outraged Israel. Erdogan addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters on Saturday, saying, “Turkey does not owe you anything. Israel is an occupier.”
The ruling AK Party of Turkey held a rally at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, where participants expressed their disapproval of Israel’s ongoing shelling of the Gaza Strip and demanded a truce.
At the “Great Palestine Meeting” on Saturday, protesters held signs in favour of Palestine and waved Turkish and Palestinian flags while Israel continued its “expanded” ground operation in the midst of a nearly complete blackout of communications in the Gaza Strip.
Leaders of various political parties attended the protest, along with well-known journalists and athletes, some of whom were scheduled to speak at the event, according to local media.
Erdogan declared at the assembly that the Israeli army’s “massacre” of Palestinians in Gaza was “the main culprit” and that Western nations were to blame.
Reporting from the crowd, Osama Bin Javaid of Al Jazeera stated that the president’s speech was “by far one of the strongest speeches that we’ve heard.”
Headbands bearing slogans like “Be the voice of Palestinian children,” “End the genocide,” and “We are all Palestinians” were visible on demonstrators.
As Israeli ground forces combat Hamas rebels within the embattled enclave, Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been largely cut off from all forms of communication with each other and the outside world since Friday evening.
Palestinian health officials report that since October 7, Israeli shelling has killed at least 7,703 Palestinians, including about 3,000 children. The Hamas onslaught on Israel resulted in the deaths of almost 1,400 people.
Large-scale demonstration in London; Berlin ban
Thousands of demonstrators were observed flooding London’s streets in the meanwhile, demanding that the British government issue a truce. Rallies were also being held in Manchester and Glasgow, among other places in the United Kingdom.
Large numbers were seen beginning the Palestine Solidarity Campaign march in aerial imagery. The demonstration was scheduled to conclude outside the Houses of Parliament after passing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office.
Similar to Washington’s position, Sunak’s government has supported humanitarian pauses to enable aid to reach Gazans, but has refrained from advocating for a ceasefire.
Berlin police broke up multiple pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Friday night once more.
During an unlawful rally in front of the Brandenburg Gate, more than a hundred people were taken into custody as demonstrators screamed anti-police and pro-Palestinian slogans. Two officers were hurt in a heated altercation between police and certain participants, according to the police.
On Friday night, some 100 people participated in another pro-Palestinian protest on Alexanderplatz in the heart of Berlin, which was again broken up. Those who wished to demonstrate were “aggressively approached and consistently expelled from the square,” according to police on Saturday.
In the weeks following Hamas’ attack on October 7, Berlin authorities have outlawed the majority of pro-Palestinian marches and rallies.
