President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan placed Gaza and the Palestinian issue at the center of his address to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Erdoğan drew attention to the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza over the past three years, many of them women and children, and highlighted the scale of the humanitarian devastation in the enclave.
The Turkish president said people in Gaza were still searching through the rubble for their loved ones, with families recovering the bodies of spouses, children and parents from beneath destroyed buildings.
Erdoğan also addressed the absence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from the UN General Assembly hall. He said the situation represented an injustice toward the Palestinian people.
Despite Abbas not being present in the hall, Erdoğan stressed that Türkiye would continue to amplify Palestine’s voice on the international stage and make the Palestinian people’s struggle for a free and sovereign state heard from the UN podium.
Erdoğan Reaffirms Support for Palestine
Erdoğan emphasized that the humanitarian situation in Gaza should remain a priority for the international community. Reiterating Türkiye’s position on the Palestinian issue, he said the rights of the Palestinian people and their goal of an independent and sovereign state would continue to be defended.