Israel's attacks in Lebanon clear effort to spread war: Erdogan

Israel's latest attacks against Lebanon will lead to the spread of the war to the region, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"The recent attacks against Lebanon and the recent statements made by Israel are a clear manifestation of the efforts to spread the war to the region," Erdogan said at an event hosted by the Turkish-American National Steering Committee (TASC) in New York on Sunday.

Erdogan arrived in the US on Saturday and will address the 79th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

The Turkish president also said that the genocide being carried out by Israel on Palestinian lands, especially in Gaza, threatens peace in the region.

"Global institutions and organisations have taken no effective steps to end the oppression in Gaza or prevent Israel's massacre," he added.

Stressing that the global system has begun to lose all its "effectiveness and credibility", Erdogan said institutions tasked with ensuring peace and security are "clearly in a state of moral collapse".

"The massacre that has been going on in Gaza for 352 days has shown this once again," he added.

Türkiye has been doing everything possible to stop this Israeli policy of "occupation, invasion and massacre as soon as possible".

"We have not remained silent and will not remain silent against any attack on the sanctity and historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, our first qibla," he stressed.

'For integration, against assimilation'

Addressing the Turkish community, Erdogan congratulated the businessmen and entrepreneurs who are a "source of pride" for Türkiye with their success in commercial and economic life in the US.

"I remind our citizens, wherever they are, at every opportunity: we are for integration and equally against assimilation.

"We want our citizens to stand out in every field, to be successful and to contribute to the society they live in. However, we do not want our people to lose their identity, core values and beliefs," he added.

The president also urged the Turkish community in the US to be on alert against "the members of the organisation who volunteer as extras in every anti-Türkiye operation".

Türkiye resolutely fights against terrorism, Erdogan reiterated, and called on the Turkish community to support Ankara in its fight against the PKK and FETO terror groups.

"Members of terrorist organisations directly or indirectly target not only our country's interests but also our citizens, commercial enterprises and non-governmental organisations abroad," he added.

Stressing that Ankara closely follows far-right movements and hate speech in countries where Turkish citizens live, Erdogan said in recent years, anti-Muslim hate and xenophobia in Western countries, particularly in Europe, have become a "major epidemic that threatens our citizens' peace".

Türkiye believes anti-Muslim hate, like racism, "should be classified as a crime and be subject to legal sanctions", he emphasised.

Earlier, Erdogan met separately with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the Turkish House to discuss bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues.

Along with First Lady Emine Erdogan, he also visited the Turken Foundation, co-founded by the Turgev and Ensar foundations. Later, he attended a roundtable meeting with representatives from some US think tanks.