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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called off a planned visit to Israel over its “inhumane” war in Gaza, saying relations between the two states would not improve.
“We had a project to go to Israel, but it was cancelled; we will not go,” he told governing party lawmakers in parliament on Wednesday as he lambasted Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza and defended Hamas.
Erdogan’s biting remarks extend a deterioration in ties between Turkey and Israel, which have had a rocky, back-and-forth relationship for years.
Once tight regional allies, Turkey froze links with Israel in 2010, after Israeli military forces carried out a raid on a Turkish ship heading to Gaza with aid supplies, killing 10 civilians.
While the two states restored ties in 2016, Turkey again dismissed Israeli envoys in 2018 over Israel’s deadly crackdown on peaceful Palestinian protesters at Gaza’s fence with Israel.
Erdogan’s tirade appeared set to put relations back in the deep freeze once more after recent signs suggesting ties were building back up.
Erdogan met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in person for the first time last month at a UN summit in New York. There, the two leaders opened the door to potential cooperation in areas such as energy, technology, and cybersecurity.
