Those passing judgment on human rights ignore Gaza brutality: Erdogan

Those who turn a blind eye to the massacres and atrocities committed by Israel in Palestine will suffer great regret, the Turkish president has said.

Those who have caused the massacre of some 25,000 innocent people in Gaza, most of them women and children, will face the "burning consequences" of their actions, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday at a naval delivery ceremony in the northwestern Yalova Province.

"To put it bluntly, Western countries and international security institutions, which had their latest bad test on the Gaza issue, no longer have any credibility," he added.

Those who pass judgment on human rights and freedoms have turned a blind eye to the children, babies, and women brutally killed over the last 105 days, since Israel’s attacks started on October 7, he added.

"They are content to merely watch barbarities, escalating to genocide, perpetrated by today's Fuhrer (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, his bloodthirsty team against Palestinians," he added.

He stated that just like in Iraq, Bosnia, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, Somalia, and Afghanistan, the institutions responsible for ensuring global security have failed and suffered a serious loss of reputation.

Naval forces' growth

During the delivery ceremony of navy-boosting projects in Yalova province, Erdogan said, "Today we are not only delivering ships, we are also delivering the world's first unmanned surface vehicle with electronic warfare capability to our navy."

Stating that he believes that each ship delivered will add more strength to Turkish Naval Forces, Erdogan said: "Our sea replenishment combat support ship, TCG Derya has the distinction of being the largest ship after TCG Anadolu."

Upon the commissioning of TCG Derya, floating units will efficiently provide fuel and water supplies, ensuring swift fulfillment of fuel, reinforcement, and water requirements for combat elements in regions near the operation area, he explained.

The autonomous surface water vehicle MARLIN SIDA will autonomously perform intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, surface warfare, electronic support, and electronic attack tasks, he added.

Erdogan congratulated the engineers, technicians and workers who brought the project to the life and express his gratitude to them. The secret of these successful projects that make Türkiye proud is the increasingly close cooperation and coordination between the institutions, he said.

"These projects show that our defence industry goals are being realised one by one."

New era for Turkish defence industry

The president reiterated that Turkish defence industry has become one of the sectors that makes the highest contribution to the Turkish economy with more than 3,500 companies and over 80 thousand employees.

"We have become a country that meets the needs of friendly and brotherly countries as well as ourselves in land and sea vehicles," he said.

Erdogan stated that they achieved a total export amount of 5.5 billion dollars by selling 230 types of defence industry products to 185 countries in 2023.

Saying that a new contract worth 10 billion 240 million dollars was signed during this period, Erdogan reiterated that Türkiye is among the 10 countries that can design, build and maintain its own warship.

As a trailblazer in electronic warfare, Türkiye achieved this feat not with the support of major powers, but despite the challenges posed by global suppliers and the secret and open embargoes they imposed, Erdogan remarked.

Türkiye overcame its terror problems by using the weapons it developed itself, he said.

"We can now easily carry out anti-terrorism operations within and outside our borders," he added, reiterating commitment to continue fight against terrorism with determination "until the terrorist swamps in Syria and Iraq are completely drained."