ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday lashed out at the international “silence” over the killing by Israeli fire of dozens of Palestinians on the Gaza border.
“If the silence on Israel’s tyranny continues, the world will rapidly be dragged into a chaos where banditry prevails,” Erdogan said at a dinner in Ankara.
The fresh violence in Gaza on Monday, when Israel’s army killed 60 Palestinians during protests, came as the United States formally moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
A fervent advocate of the Palestinian cause, Erdogan on Tuesday accused Israel of “state terror” and “genocide” over the killings.
The Turkish leader will on Friday host a summit of the world’s main pan-Islamic body the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.
On Wednesday, Erdogan also said the Gaza bloodshed showed “the United Nations has collapsed.”
Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador in Tel Aviv for consultations and told Israel’s ambassador to Ankara to leave, also for an unspecified period of time.
That drew retaliation from Israel, which ordered the Turkish consul in Jerusalem to leave for an unspecified period of time.
Erdogan slams world’s ‘silence’ on ‘Israel’s tyranny’
Erdogan slams world’s ‘silence’ on ‘Israel’s tyranny’
- Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “If the silence on Israel’s tyranny continues, the world will rapidly be dragged into a chaos where banditry prevails.”
- A fervent advocate of the Palestinian cause, Erdogan had previously accused Israel of “state terror” and “genocide” over the killings.
Iran unrest persists, top judge warns protesters
- Demonstrations sparked by soaring inflation
- Western provinces worst affected
DUBAI: Iran’s top judge warned protesters on Wednesday there would be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic,” while accusing Israel and the US of pursuing hybrid methods to disrupt the country.
The current protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar by shopkeepers condemning the currency’s free fall.
Unrest has since spread nationwide amid deepening distress over economic hardships, including rocketing inflation driven by mismanagement and Western sanctions, and curbs on political and social freedoms.
“Following announcements by Israel and the US president, there is no excuse for those coming to the streets for riots and unrest, chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran’s judiciary, was quoted as saying by state media.
“From now on, there will be no leniency for whoever helps the enemy against the Islamic Republic and the calm of the people,” Ejei said.
Iranian authorities have not given a death toll for protesters, but have said at least two members of the security services have died and more than a dozen have been injured.
Iran’s western provinces have witnessed the most violent protests.
“During the funeral of two people in Malekshahi on Tuesday, a number of attendees began chanting harsh, anti-system slogans,” said Iran’s Fars, news agency.
After the funeral, Fars said, “about 100 mourners went into the city and trashed three banks ... Some started shooting at the police trying to disperse them.”
The semi-official Mehr news agency said protesters stormed a food store and emptied bags of rice, which has been affected by galloping inflation that has made ordinary staples increasingly unaffordable for many Iranians.
