WATCH: Erdogan’s Gaza Remarks Trigger Israeli Walkout At UN General Assembly
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, delivering a wide-ranging speech centered on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and calls for reform of the international system. Erdogan said Gaza has lost 74,000 people over the past three years, mostly women and children, describing the territory as the world’s largest graveyard for children and the site with the highest rate of child amputations globally, and calling it “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time.” He said that despite a ceasefire reached with contributions from Turkey and other countries, more than 1,500 Gazans have been killed since, and accused Israel of refusing to end its occupation even as the Palestinian resistance movement agreed to move to the second stage of the peace plan. Erdogan also addressed the West Bank settler violence, restrictions on Muslim and Christian access to holy sites in Jerusalem, and threats to UNRWA. Turning to broader global issues, he called the UN’s founding mission compromised, noting more than 60 conflicts and 250,000 deaths worldwide over the past year, and urged reform of the UN Security Council, arguing the world “is bigger than five.” He touched on the Russia-Ukraine war, calling for an end to the conflict with Ukraine’s sovereignty upheld, reiterated Turkey’s call for international recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, addressed Syria’s post-revolution transition, and announced Turkey will host the COP31 climate summit in Antalya this November. Erdogan closed by warning against Islamophobia, disinformation, and unchecked AI, and reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to advocating for Palestinian statehood based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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