Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls for permanent Gaza ceasefire

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his attacks on Israel as he arrived in Tirana Thursday, the first stop of a Balkans tour that will also take him to Serbia.

Repeating his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted “genocide”, he branded it the “shame of humanity”, at a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.”The international community, we must do our best to urgently guarantee a permanent ceasefire and exert the necessary pressure on Israel,” he added.

“The genocide that has been going on in Gaza for the past year is the common shame of all humanity,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan added.

The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. The UN has said the figures are reliable.

Erdogan has branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

“The aggression led by the Netanyahu government now threatens the world order beyond the region,” Erdogan said.

Later Thursday Erdogan, accompanied by Prime Minister Edi Rama, inaugurated the Great Mosque of Tirana.

The largest Muslim place of worship in the Balkans, it has a capacity of up to 10,000 people. The project, funded by Turkey, cost 30 million euros.

Turkey is also a major employer in Albania. As Erdogan said in February, over 600 Turkish companies operate in the country, providing jobs to more than 15,000 workers.

It is also one of the five biggest foreign investors in Albania, he said, with $3.5 billion (3.2 billion euros) committed.

The two NATO member countries also have close military ties, with Turkey supplying Tirana with its Bayraktar TB2 drones.