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Turkey fumes at Netanyahu over West Bank annexation remark

Sunday, 07 April 2019 10:30 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 07 April 2019 10:42 AM ]

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (photo by AFP)

Turkey has strongly censured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for promising to annex settlements in the West Bank if re-elected, saying that the “irresponsible” statement will not change the status of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a tweet on Sunday that Netanyahu was seeking to lure votes with that promise.

“West Bank is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in violation of int’l law,” Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter. “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s irresponsible statement to seek votes just before the Israeli general elections cannot and will not change this fact.”

On Saturday, Netanyahu said that if he was re-elected prime minister in the April 9 general elections, he would not shy away from expanding Israel’s illegal annexations to cover the West Bank, which the Israeli regime occupied in 1967.

PressTV-Israel’s Netanyahu vows to annex West Bank

Israel’s Netanyahu says he would annex the occupied West Bank if he wins another term in office.

‘Shame on Western democracies!’

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin also criticized Netanyahu for making the statement.

“Yet another example of how Netanyahu uses electoral politics to justify occupation and undermine the two-state solution. If he is re-elected, will this be a triumph of ‘democracy’ or occupation?” he tweeted. “Will Western democracies react or will they keep appeasing?
Shame on them all!”

‘Stop Netanyahu’s madness!’

Additionally, Omer Celik, a spokesman for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, complained that Netanyahu’s pledge violated United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“This pledge not only transgresses the law, but it also attempts to completely destroy it,” he tweeted.

Celik also called on the international community to stop “Netanyahu’s madness” and condemn his “discourse of hatred,” warning that the Israeli prime minister was blatantly risking peace and stability in the Middle East.

He said Netanyahu was encouraged by US President Donald Trump’s recent moves to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the Israeli “capital” and the regime’s “sovereignty” over Syria’s Golan Heights.

“There is not a single value or legal provision that he (Netanyahu) did not attack,” Celik said. “Those who support the occupation of others need to carefully think about the repercussions as it poses the most fundamental threat to international law and security.”

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