Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday no one had the power to remove Gazans from their devastated territory, amid the Muslim world’s resounding rejection of US President Donald Trump’s plan to expel the Palestinians and take control of the Strip once the war there between Israel and terror group Hamas ends.
“I would like to state this clearly once: the proposals put forward by the new American administration regarding Gaza with the pressure of the Zionist lobby have nothing worth considering or discussing from our perspective,” Erdogan told a late-night news conference at Istanbul Airport before flying to Malaysia.
It was unclear if he was referring to Israel or pro-Israel Jewish groups in the United States.
“These are purely preoccupations with nonsense,” he continued. “No one has the power to remove the people of Gaza from their eternal homeland that has been around for thousands of years. Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem belong to the Palestinians.”
Earlier Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also said “the displacement of Palestinians is unacceptable,” in comments carried by Turkish state-run outlet Anadolu. Fidan reportedly described Trump’s idea as historically ignorant.
Turkey has been one of Israel’s harshest critics throughout the war in Gaza. In May, Erdogan cut off his country’s trade ties with Israel due to the war, which he has likened repeatedly to the Holocaust, and at one point appeared to threaten an invasion of Israel.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a meeting of top diplomats from the Middle East and Europe to discuss Syria, in Riyadh on January 12, 2025. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP)
According to a United Nations report last year, roughly two-thirds of Gaza’s structures have been damaged or destroyed in the war, which was sparked when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Trump’s proposal to oust more than two million Palestinians living in Gaza and rebuild into a “Riviera of the Middle East” has prompted international backlash and enraged Muslims and Arabs the world over.
Trump announced his proposal at the White House on Tuesday in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was reportedly taken by surprise.
US President Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive for a news conference in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, February 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
In a subsequent social media post, the US president said Israel would transfer control of Gaza to Washington after the war, but that Washington would not need to station any troops in the Strip. Trump stressed his sincerity in comments to the press on Sunday.
Trump’s plan has delighted right-wing politicians in Israel. Netanyahu, who has not publicly enunciated a plan for Gaza’s postwar governance, hailed it as “the first good idea that I’ve heard” on what to do with the Strip. Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to prepare to let Gazans leave the Strip, and reprimanded the military intelligence chief for urging preparation for the possibility that the plan stokes violence by Palestinians.
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