Turkish President Calls Israel ‘Terrorist State’ After Germany Visit

After meeting Chancellor Scholz, Turkish President Erdoğan strongly condemns Israel and questions Germany's stance on the issue

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reportedly called Israel a terrorist state and said that Germany had “imperialist ideals” a day after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Friday.

“[The] West, bound by crusader imperialist ideals, is together. Unfortunately, I witnessed this during my Germany visit. The German president reflects the same mindset,” Erdoğan said on Saturday, according to the Turkish state news agency.

Erdoğan also said that Israel’s administration should be tried at the International Criminal Court and stated that he told the German chancellor that his country should have supported a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian truce.

A day after the meeting, Scholz held a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during which he urged for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, according to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

The Turkish president told reporters that he expected trade with Germany to increase this year and that the two countries could cooperate in several fields such as energy and climate change.

This visit had to happen; the result is not disappointing. … There are topics which have to be talked [about] face-to-face.

Hüseyin Bağcı, president of the Foreign Policy Institute and an international relations professor at Turkey’s Middle East Technical University, told The Media Line that the meeting between the two countries’ leaders was necessary because of pressing issues, including the Israel-Hamas war, the war in Ukraine, and security and migration issues.

“This visit had to happen; the result is not disappointing. … There are topics which have to be talked [about] face-to-face,” Bağcı said, adding that he believed some progress was probably made.

Bağcı noted that some of the main topics would most likely have been about defense, with Turkey wanting European fighter jets and Germany needing ammunition.

Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said earlier in the week that Spain and the UK were putting pressure on Germany for the sale of 40 Typhoon jets.

Given that Turkish Air Force aircraft are aging, the country had been hoping to get F-16 jets from the US. However, that has been blocked by Congress.

Ankara was previously kicked out of a US F-35 fighter jet program for purchasing Russian weapons.

Hard to see [Turkey and the US as] best friends, but there are too many common interests for a permanent break

Timothy Ash, an economist focused on Turkey and a strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, believes that once the Israel-Hamas war subsides, there could be a deal for both the US’s F-16s and the Typhoons.

“Hard to see [Turkey and the US as] best friends, but there are too many common interests for a permanent break,” Ash wrote in a message to The Media Line.

Erdoğan and Scholz have taken vastly different stances on the Israel-Hamas war, which were laid bare at the joint press conference in Berlin.

Erdoğan told reporters that he could speak freely about Israel because Turkey does “not owe anything to Israel.” He also stated that his country did not go through the Holocaust.

In response, Scholz said that his country’s support for Israel was beyond question and that the country had a right to defend itself.

The lead-up to the visit was tense, with pressure on Scholz to cancel the meeting, especially in light of recent comments from Ankara.

Earlier in the week, Erdoğan called Israel a fascist country.

Asked for a reaction to Erdoğan’s claim, Scholz said, “Israel is a country that is committed to human rights and international law and acts accordingly. And that is why the accusations being made against Israel are absurd, and there can be no doubt about this.”

The president of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, told German news outlet RND that Erdoğan should not be a political partner of Germany and urged Scholz to tell the Turkish president that the relativization of Hamas is unacceptable.

Another key area of disagreement is Turkey’s delay in supporting Sweden’s NATO bid.

A bill is now in the Turkish Parliament waiting to be ratified after Erdoğan said he supported Swedish membership, but it still needs approval from Parliament.

Ash believes Erdoğan’s leverage over Sweden’s bid, which requires approval from all NATO members, means that Western allies will not criticize Turkey too strongly over its stance on Gaza.

“The reality is the Turkish position is not that out of kilter with the whole of the Middle East, the Muslim world, or the Global South. Erdoğan is just being more vocal because he can,” Ash stated.

Bağcı said that the Israel-Hamas war delayed the decision because Erdoğan would not want to be seen as siding with Western countries who have come under strong criticism in Turkey for supporting Israel.

However, with anti-migration sentiments in Germany strengthening, Scholz will need Turkey to continue stopping migrants and asylum seekers from fleeing to the European Union.

“There are issues where they [both countries] can understand each other and where they cannot,” Bağcı concluded.