First lady Emine Erdoğan attended “One Heart for Palestine: Preserving Hope Amidst The Darkness of Occupation and Genocide” session of Doha Forum 2024 in the eponymous Qatari capital on Saturday. In a fervent speech there, the first lady reiterated her country’s stand with the people of Palestine and slammed Israel which was behind what she called “a postmodern Holocaust” against innocent Palestinians.
Mrs. Erdoğan reiterated that 395 days have passed since Palestinian children appealed to the world outside Al-Shifa Hospital attacked by Israel. “They called on the world by saying we want to live,” she said.
“Four hundred and seven days have passed since the United Nations Children’s Fund referred to Gaza as ‘a graveyard for children.’ One hundred and ninety-five days have passed since the tent city for displaced Gazans in Rafah, the so-called safe zone, was bombed, and 44 people were burnt to death. Today marks the 428th day of the genocide … For precisely 14 months, we have been witnessing one of the most brutal attacks by organized brutality on the collective conscience of humanity and human dignity. Under the pretext of ‘self-defense,’ there is an attempt to erase a country, its nation and its culture from history in their entirety, including young and old, men and women, Christians and Muslims,” the first lady said.
Türkiye, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, exerted diplomatic efforts for a lasting solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict and severed all ties with Israel in the face of the genocide of Palestinians. It also joined other countries in a push to hold the Netanyahu administration accountable for war crimes before international courts.
“Which religion or legal system deems the brutal massacre of 44,000 civilians, including 16,000 children, and the bombing of hospitals, schools, places of worship and even orphanages as ‘legitimate’? Who could Israel be protecting itself from by dropping over 70,000 tonnes of bombs on Gaza, where half of the population is under the age of 18? The current situation in Palestine is neither legitimate nor a manifestation of the right to self-defense. Let us define it precisely: It is a ‘post-modern Holocaust’ perpetrated by Israel in the Palestinian territories,” Emine Erdoğan said in Doha. President Erdoğan himself often likens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Hitler and repeatedly said that the Netanyahu administration may have surpassed Hitler in barbaric crimes.
“For almost a century, the Palestinian people have been subjected to systematic theft, inhumane discrimination and relentless occupation. Over the last year, this occupation has escalated into one of the darkest genocides in history. Names and lives are lost daily as the toll continues to rise. As hostilities continuously escalate and are disregarded, we are gradually becoming accustomed to this malice. With each new loss, yet another moral line that we thought was uncrossable is crossed,” Emine Erdoğan said.
The first lady also lamented the fact that the international community let Israel continue its crimes.
“The entire world seems to be watching as it unfolds. For the first time in history, the victims of the ongoing genocide are sharing their plight with the world in real time, hoping to receive assistance. Despite this stark reality, the so-called civilized world, which takes pride in defending humanist values, turns a blind eye to the ongoing events. It feels free to disregard all humanitarian, legal and religious principles in order to absolve this genocide and its perpetrators. By also providing financial and military backing, it openly aids and abets this genocide,” she said.
Emine Erdoğan also cited the fact that Israel and its supporters utilized “anti-Semitism” to counter their critics.
“Zionism is working to extinguish any hope for peace through its atmosphere of fear and deceptive politics. The stigma of anti-Semitism is, almost like a weapon, being aimed at everyone who dares to speak out against these atrocities. Major media outlets, claiming to be unbiased, highlight pro-Israel content while flagrantly removing posts that reveal oppression as part of reality,” she said.
The first lady stated that what was transpiring in Palestine now was not a war but rather “an attempt to impose a world order in which only the strongest and the cruelest survive, and other lives are easily expendable.”
“It is the coerced imposition of an arbitrary system that has the potential to defile all that we hold dear as humanity, corrupt all common values, and diminish the value of all other people and entities for the benefit of a certain group of people. I reject this self-serving system that was put in place by a small ideological minority to carry out its unrealistic ambitions, first and foremost, as a Muslim and a human being! Amid this aggressive tyranny, the world community’s embarrassing impotence and hypocritical politics have reached an intolerable degree. What are we to make of the silence of Western countries, which uphold Israel’s right to ‘self-defense’ as an unassailable relic, while tens of thousands of innocent Gazans have been massacred to this end? Does the definition of ‘human,’ whose rights are protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many international agreements, only cover those within the borders determined by the West?” she said.
Emine Erdoğan said that history would judge people for where they stand. “It is a matter of trust and legacy. It is a matter of safeguarding the global humanitarian values entrusted to us at all costs and leaving a legacy of a fairer world behind. It is a matter of advocating for and nurturing a faith and civilization that embraces human beings with compassion and sees them as intrinsically valuable, regardless of their language, religion, race, or color. We, who stand united for peace in Palestine, carry on the legacy of Abraham, who recognized all humanity as his spiritual offspring. He was a unique leader who stated that even in cities deserving divine retribution, there remain at least 10 innocent people. We adhere to the path of peace and salvation, to which all the pioneers of kindness, particularly Abraham and the rest of our prophets, dedicated themselves,” she said.
“We should make it our duty to learn about the true Palestine, which they try to make us forget, with its history, including prior to 1945 and even the 1900s, and safeguard it in our memories. Because we have a lot to learn from this history. Gazans remind us of all the virtues we have forgotten through their honorable resistance and their undaunted and dignified stance in the face of the oppressor. It breathes new life into our withered hearts, fortifies our consciences, and transforms them into compasses capable of distinguishing right from wrong. The awakening we are witnessing today, with rallies all over the world, heralds the birth of a new world. For this reason, perhaps most importantly, Gaza is bringing a glimmer of hope onto our lives overshadowed by genocide and invasion. Hope is not only an emotion. To hope is also a choice. It is to wake up every morning and choose with the same passion and courage to believe in a brighter future in spite of everything. The hope of Gazans, who have lost their families, been evicted from their homes, and had everything from their belongings to identity ransacked, that they harbor despite everything emboldens us,” she said.
Erdoğan brought together other first ladies in Istanbul last November for a meeting of solidarity for peace in Palestine. She reminded that gathering and repeated her call for “unity for peace in Palestine.” “Let us unite around this beacon of hope and transform our collective power into an effective action. For the sake of innocents, we can still save today, let us shout our call for a cease-fire even louder, without hesitation or any conditions. As Türkiye, we continue our diplomatic efforts both for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and for Palestine to exist as an independent state. We are the country that has provided the most aid to Gaza, with 88 tonnes of humanitarian aid,” she said.