Netanyahu's attendance at the UN General Assembly is a shame: Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's attendance at the UN General Assembly a shame for the global community.

"This is a betrayal to the memories of babies, children, mothers, fathers, United Nations officials, journalists and many others who were brutally massacred, " Erdogan told journalists at the end of his diplomatic tour in New York, where he attended the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

Erdogan noted that the Israeli delegation had strange behaviour after his speech at the General Assembly. "They cannot defend themselves. Their stance already shows this. For this reason, we have called, and are calling, on everyone to stand on the right side of history. "

"An order that cannot distinguish between the oppressed and the oppressor, the murderer and the victim, and cannot treat each of them as they deserve, is rotten to the core. Either the United Nations General Assembly will treat that murderer as he deserves, or this shameful situation will go down in the history of the United Nations as a stain. "

Israel didn't spare even UN staff

Erdogan criticised the UN for not doing its job.

"The UN is in a position where it is unable to fulfil its mission of preventing wars, unable to make anyone listen, unable to protect even its own officials and unable to hold Israel to account for killing them. I was really surprised when Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gave me the casualty figures during our meeting. "

The Turkish president also touched on the UN Security Council's problematic nature and added, "In the current system, the five untouchable members of the UN Security Council can do whatever they want ruthlessly.

Netanyahu is today's Hitler

Stating he's closely following the situation in Lebanon, Erdogan said that what's unfolding in Lebanon is a serious trauma and added, "What's happening in Lebanon is very cruel. We hope that Lebanon will overcome this trauma as soon as possible. Israel is dreaming, and it seems to be willing to turn the lives of the people in our region into a nightmare in order to realise that dream. "

"In his time, Hitler also had a dream, and he also gave nightmares to the peoples of various nations. Eventually, he realised clearly that what he had seen was a dream. Sooner or later, Netanyahu, today's Hitler, will also face this reality. "

Diplomacy is the way forward

Reiterating that Türkiye backs the peace process to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Erdogan said that his country is ready to host a possible peace conference to end the war.

"It is possible to end this war through diplomacy and dialogue. I hope both the warring parties and other actors would believe that we can solve the problems in this way.

"Unfortunately, we are not close to this."

Nevertheless, Türkiye has an advantage as it can discuss peace with Ukraine and Russia on the same footing, he said.

F-35 disappointment

Speaking about the F-35 program, of which Türkiye was a part, Erdogan said his country faced problems with the deal under both the Trump and Biden administrations.

He also added, "All of them brought us this disappointment. Republicans and Democrats. Now we will see whether this will continue in the new term. We are owed 1 billion 450 million dollars. This is not a small amount. "

"We will continue to take steps to collect this. We need to see the outcome of the November elections. We hope that as a result of this work, we will put the relations between Türkiye and the US back on the scales accordingly. We hope the outcome will be auspicious. "

A game changer

In response to critics of Türkiye's application to BRICS, Erdogan said that Ankara's presence in BRICS and ASEAN will create new opportunities for all parties concerned.

"We cannot ignore the fact that we have ties with Europe and America as well as with Central Asia, Russia, the Baltic region or the Far East. Likewise, we have a deep-rooted history with the Arab region and the Gulf countries, while we also have close relations with Africa. "

He also emphasised that it's Türkiye's geography and thousands of years of history that encourage the country to build such a diverse architecture of partnership.

"Just because we are a NATO country, we cannot cut our ties with the Turkic world and the Islamic world. BRICS and ASEAN are structures that offer opportunities for us to develop our economic cooperation. Taking part in these structures does not mean giving up NATO. We do not think that these alliances and co-operations are alternatives to each other. "

Turkish President Erdogan held bilateral meetings with many leaders in New York, where he attended the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

He met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Guinea-Bissau's President Sissoco Embalo.

He also received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Sudanese Sovereignty Council President Abdel Fattah al Burhan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan.