Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the tone of his confrontation with Israel, using his harshest words yet against the country. “May He (God), the Almighty, destroy Israel,” Erdogan said. “This Zionist Israel has killed hundreds and thousands of people. I have no doubt that it will pay the price,” he said in Rize, on the Black Sea, concluding a prayer for the end of Ramadan, the day when Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
Erdogan uses the term "Kahrar", which in Islam is used to describe God, which translates as "Almighty", the one who "dominates".
Erdogan's prayer to God has a double meaning, where he states, among other things: "May God protect us and preserve us as soon as possible from the Zionist disaster."
Erdogan's words come amid a rare consensus in Turkey; both the ruling party and the opposition have immediately expressed opposition to the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, calling for a return to diplomacy.
The pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party has also already condemned the Israeli and American war as “an intervention that has nothing to do with democracy.” “It is clear,” the party explained in a statement, “that global and regional powers are not pursuing democracy or freedoms in Iran, but instead are seeking to create a new order that no longer poses a threat to them, as has been seen in other times in history.”
Ankara has repeatedly criticized Israeli and American attacks on Tehran as violations of its sovereignty, but has also distanced itself from some Iranian responses to American targets in the Persian Gulf. This dual stance combines increasingly harsh rhetoric against Israel with a more formal call for a necessary diplomatic solution.
