Erdoğan hails Syria unity deal, blasts Gaza carnage
ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threw his weight behind a new Syria unity deal and unleashed a fiery attack on Israel’s actions in Gaza during a speech at an Iftar event in Ankara on March 11, 2025.
Speaking with conviction, he made it clear Türkiye stands firm on both fronts.
On Syria, Erdoğan praised a March 10 agreement between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Ferhad Abdi Şahin, known as Mazlum Abdi, leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is widely dominated by YPG, an extension of the terrorist organization PKK.
He called for the full implementation of Monday’s agreement.
The deal keeps Syria whole, merging SDF areas into the state and promising equal rights for all.
“This is a victory for Syrians,” Erdoğan said, adding that every move against terrorism there gets Türkiye’s nod.
"We want peace, tranquility, and prosperity not only in Gaza and the West Bank, but throughout our entire region. We envision a region where different beliefs, sects, and ethnic groups live side by side,” he said.
The agreement envisions the integration of Syrian Arab Republic institutions and affirms territorial unity while rejecting any form of division, said the Syria's presidency on X.
It highlighted that "the participation and representation of Syrians in political processes and state institutions based on merit, regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds, is guaranteed."
It also underlined that "the Kurdish community is an integral component of the Syrian state, and the Syrian state guarantees citizenship rights and all constitutional rights."
Switching to Gaza, he didn’t hold back. Erdoğan claimed Israel’s 471-day assault has left over 61,000 dead—mostly women and children—plus over 200 journalists and 330 healthcare workers deliberately killed.
"A sadistic pleasure is taken from murdering babies whose mouths still smell of milk, innocent children whose mothers can never get enough of kissing them. At times with anger and sometimes with embarrassment, we, like the whole world, were subjected to this madness for 471 days,” he said.
“It’s a disgrace,” he fumed, calling on the world, especially Muslim nations, to rebuild Gaza. He cheered a $53 billion plan from the March 4 Cairo summit, saying, “Let’s keep it going.”
"Despite those who try to ingratiate themselves with the Zionist regime, who slander the Palestinian resistance as a 'terrorist organization,' and those who always start their sentences with 'however,' we have always stood by the heroic children of Gaza,” he added.
Erdoğan pointed fingers at Israel’s Netanyahu government, accusing them of killing peace talks and plotting to grab more land.
“We won’t let Palestinians face a second Nakba,” he vowed, insisting their land stays theirs.
Erdoğan reiterated that it is “impossible” to talk about a just and lasting solution without establishing free Palestine, based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
