Turkish PM Slams Israel’s Gaza Op as ‘Savagery’
Posted by alfied on January 6, 2009
06/01/2009 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed on Tuesday Israel’s deadliest offensive against the Gaza Strip that claimed the lives of more than 580 lives, including nearly 100 children, as “savagery.”
“What reason can justify such savagery?” Erdogan wondered in a speech to his Justice and Development Party in parliament, slamming Israeli attacks on civilian targets.
The Turkish official noted that the offensive was a bid by the Israeli leadership to score points ahead of the general elections scheduled in February.
Erdogan called on Israeli Defense and Foreign Affairs ministers Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni “to forget about the elections, because history will judge them for the black stain they are leaving on humanity.”
The Zionist entity “has suffered much in history and should know best the sanctity of human life, especially that of women and children… and the importance of the culture of co-existence,” he said, insisting that the Israeli response was disproportionate.
A Turkish envoy is in Damascus on Tuesday for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hamas representatives, Erdogan said.
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