By Janet Ekstract, NEW YORK – On September 25, Turkish officials rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusations against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his U.N. speech, calling them “baseless and malicious.” One Turkish diplomat who spoke to the assembly said Netanyahu’s international isolation “deepens with each passing day,” while Türkiye’s communications director said the Israeli leader “has become more isolated than ever.” The statement Netanyahu made that caused tensions included: “The latest country to become a super spreader of antisemitic lies (is Türkiye). Erdogan is a tyrant. He also hosts the Hamas terror chiefs.” Then a Turkish diplomat used the U.N. right of reply to reject Netanyahu’s acussations. Meanwhile, a third secretary-level diplomat from Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry exercised the right of reply on behalf of Türkiye, to reject Netanyahu’s accusations.
As the Turkish diplomat explained in a formal statement: “We categorically reject the baseless and malicious accusations against Turkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.” The statement further noted: “This is a strong diplomatic condemnation, The message given is clear: What he says has lost his credibility, his policies are rejected and his isolation in the international arena deepens with each passing day.” The statement added: “The international community refuses to listen to a leader who has an arrest warrant against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity and who has lot his moral legitimacy.” Additionally, the diplomat described Netanyahu’s untrue claims as desperate and hollow attempts to conceal what the statement called Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its ongoing aggression in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and beyond.
