Turkish President Erdogan equates Israeli PM Netanyahu to Hitler

Reuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 27 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was no different from Adolf Hitler and likened Israel's attacks on Gaza to the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis.

NATO member Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has criticized Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza, called it a "terror state" and said its leaders must be tried in international courts.

Sharpening his rhetoric, Erdoğan said Turkey would welcome academics and scientists facing persecution for their views on the conflict in Gaza, adding Western countries supporting Israel were complicit in what he called war crimes.

"They used to speak ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not," Erdoğan said.

"He is richer than Hitler, he gets the support from the West. All sorts of support comes from the United States. And what did they do with all this support? They killed more than 20,000 Gazans," he said.

Netanyahu responded by saying the Turkish president should be the last person to lecture Israel.

"Erdoğan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule," Netanyahu said in a statement, "is the last person who can preach morality to us."

Despite its criticism of Israel, Turkey has maintained commercial ties, drawing a backlash from opposition parties and Iran. Ankara says trade with Israel has fallen sharply since Oct. 7.

Unlike its Western allies and some Arab nations, Turkey does not view Hamas as a terrorist organization.