Lack of pressure encourages Israel’s massacres on Palestinians: Erdoğan

ANKARA

The failure of the international community in putting sufficient pressure on Israel has encouraged the Netanyahu government to exercise its massacres on the Palestinian civilians, mostly children and women, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

“These are women and children who suffer most from conflicts and women. The number of children Israel has massacred in Gazza is above 20.000. Two thirds of the death toll in Gaza are women and children. These are very terrifying numbers,” Erdoğan said at an event for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Nov. 25 in Ankara.

A tragedy at this magnitude cannot be tolerated and ignored, Erdoğan said, underlining that the massacres committed on the Palestinian women have not received adequate reaction from the world.

“No sufficient pressure was imposed on Israel,” Erdoğan said, blaming the international community for discriminating the oppressed Palestinians due to their ethnic and religious identities.

“Our Gazan sisters who are with us today know the wound this caused in our conscience,” he stated, urging that the international community’s failure to tackle this problem makes it even more chronic.

“Not only do they ignore women in Gaza, they also disregard women victimized by the capitalist system. Yet, any attack on a woman’s dignity or life is an act that must be resisted,” Erdoğan recalled.

Women key for healthy family, society

The role of women is essential for the family as the core of the society and the family is happy only if the woman is happy, Erdoğan said, urging that violence against women is a grave blow for the family and society.

“Violence is a problem that infects entire society. Any violence that is not intervened grows over time and spreads to other events,” Erdoğan stressed, admitting that despite all the measures taken by the government violence against women could not be fully eliminated.

One solution to this is enhancing the family institution while encouraging for a more balanced division of labor between woman and man in the family, Erdoğan said.

“I believe fathers should also shoulder important responsibilities in raising children,” he said, calling on fathers to do more for their families.

“Violence against women, children is a crime against humanity,” Erdoğan said, repeating his government’s determination in fighting against femicide.

“We also observe happily that women are also more active in protecting their rights,” added the president.