Erdogan's threats to invade Israel are inflammatory and only serve to escalate tensions - editorial
Erdogan’s comments serve only to escalate tensions, and the international community must continue to unequivocally condemn Erdogan’s provocations.
He is at it again. As the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the growing threat of war in the North against Hezbollah, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has thrown his hat into the ring.Erdogan suggested on Sunday that Turkey might enter Israel as it had done in the past in conflicts in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the president was careful not to specify the type of intervention he was suggesting. Erdogan, who has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas, started discussing that war during a speech praising his country’s defense industry.“We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in his hometown of Rize. “There is no reason why we cannot do this… We must be strong so that we can take these steps,” Erdogan added in the televised address.
The president must play his cards carefully, however.
Turkey's military history
Turkey’s military history since Erdogan assumed the presidency in 2014 includes supporting anti-Assad dissidents in the Syrian Civil War (which has led to a Turkish presence in northern Syria since 2016 and an ongoing conflict with the Kurds); troop deployment in the Mali War; support for the American-led intervention in Iraq against ISIS in 2014; the Libyan Civil War and the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh (where Turkey has denied any direct role in Azerbaijan’s military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh but said last year it was using “all means” to support its close ally.)
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