Responding to Gaza crisis 'humanitarian duty' — Erdogan

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said reacting to the situation in Palestine's Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 36,000 people since last October, is a "humanitarian duty."

“It is our humanitarian duty to the Palestinian people to react to this insane situation, which puts our humanity and our faith to the test,” Erdogan said in an address at the 8th Anatolian Media Awards ceremony in Ankara on Wednesday.

He further criticised the Western attitudes regarding the crisis, saying: “We see that those who have spent years lecturing us on press freedom remain silent regarding the incidents taking place in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

“Those who play deaf, dumb, and blind towards genocide today cannot erase this black mark for the rest of their lives,” he added.

Standing with the oppressed

The Turkish president on Wednesday praised Türkiye’s premier news agency Anadolu and public broadcaster TRT for their coverage of the conflict in Gaza, the blockaded enclave of 2.3 million people now turned into ruins.

Erdogan also slammed the international media for their “double standards” over Israel's war on Gaza.

"We are facing such a double standard that those who have killed 150 journalists in just eight months can still talk about press freedom. This is not just inconsistency, but also lack of conscience, principlelessness, injustice, and bias,” he stressed.

“Those who speak in difficult times will be acquitted not only in history but also in the conscience of humanity," he said, adding: “When we stand up for our Palestinian brothers and sisters, we stand up for humanity as a whole, for freedom, justice, and peace."

He said Türkiye, which has provided the most aid to Gaza in the last eight months and suspended trade with Israel, will continue to stand in solidarity with “the oppressed and against the oppressor.”