Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has doubled down on his harsh rhetoric on Israel to call it a “terror state”, shortly after returning from a visit to Berlin.
“The person in charge of this terror state has at the moment made the Israeli people cry out and revolt against himself. That is why his end is near,” said Erdogan, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Erdogan further associated western governments, including Germany, to what he called “the crusader imperialist structure,” without further elaborating.
“Unfortunately, I saw this during my visit last night. I saw that in the president too. And in the other one,” Erdogan asserted.
The Turkish leader met German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Friday, his first visit to Germany in almost four years.
The controversial visit came shortly after Erdogan’s harsh verbal attacks against Israel over the latter’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza Strip.
Although Erdogan condemned the murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians by Hamas on October 7, he later described the militant group as freedom fighters.
