By supporting Israel, the West has “squandered” its reputation, FM Hakan Fidan says
The West has lost any right to speak about principles and morality by taking one position on Ukraine and the total opposite on Gaza, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, Fidan addressed issues such as the current conflict in Gaza, the recent Israeli escalation in Lebanon, and the Yemeni blockade of the Red Sea.
“What happened in Gaza has caused the West and Europeans to suddenly lose all their reputation and all the credit they had accumulated. They have spent all their credit in the eyes of humanity, and especially our generation,” Fidan told reporters. “It won’t be easy for them to get it back.”
The Turkish foreign minister also described the contrast between the West’s position on Gaza and its official stance on the Ukraine conflict as “peak hypocrisy.”
“They can’t talk about principles, virtue and morality [when] they completely ignore them,” Fidan said. “I see that all of this is paving the way for a huge geostrategic rupture.”
While the US and other Western countries have provided “unconditional support” to Israel, Russia and China are “in a different position,” Fidan said, noting that “the equation in the region has evolved.”
Türkiye and several other Muslim countries in the region have set up a ‘contact group’ to coordinate their policy on the conflict and pursue a peaceful solution in Gaza, Fidan reminded reporters.
His comments come a day after Ankara announced the arrests of 33 people suspected of spying for Israel and issued warrants for 13 more suspected Mossad agents.
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “worse than Hitler,” accusing him of carrying out the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Netanyahu declared war on Hamas after the Gaza-based Palestinian group attacked Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 Israelis and taking 240 captive. Almost 22,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israeli forces, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
