British musician and songwriter Roger Waters has attracted a flurry of criticism and accusations of ignorance due to a thank you message he posted to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his outspoken criticism of the ongoing war on Gaza.
Waters, who co-founded Pink Floyd, thanked Erdoğan and the Turkish people on X while responding to a thank you message from Erdoğan to him and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis for sharing a video on Gaza on social media produced by his Communications Directorate.
The video, produced for the anniversary of the Israeli war on Gaza, launched in the wake of an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, shows children in several countries around the world in 2040 visiting memorials and museums honoring the “genocide” victims in Gaza and asking their parents or other adults whether they did anything to stop the massacre of civilians.
Waters wrote on X on Thursday that “it is we who should thank you and the people of Turkey for standing as a lone voice in the West against the Genocide of our brothers and sisters in #Palestine, thank you,” referring to Erdoğan.
No Sir @RTErdogan, it is we who should thank you and the people of Turkey for standing as a lone voice in the West against the Genocide of our brothers and sisters in #Palestine, thank you.
The film you made is brilliant and compassionate and beautiful and true and will be… https://t.co/F2nkPoFkWS
— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) October 16, 2024
He also thanked Turkey and praised the video for being “brilliant and compassionate and beautiful and true,” saying that it will be remembered in 2040.
Many social media users and Turkish journalists and academics said the musician is ignoring the fact that Turkey continues trade with Israel despite announcing a ban in May as well as highlighting alleged rights violations by Erdoğan involving Kurds and his political opponents.
Umut Özkırımlı, a Turkish political scientist and senior research fellow at the Barcelona Institute of International Studies, said Waters should have done some research before thanking Erdoğan because he has no idea how he treats Kurdish politicians or human rights activists in Turkey, who are put behind bars in politically motivated trials. Özkırımlı said Waters is not aware of Turkey’s ongoing trade with Israel when it publicly condemns its actions in Gaza.
“Don’t you know who Erdoğan is? Why don’t you ask him to prepare a similar video for the Kurdish villages he destroyed? Or the human rights activists and Kurdish politicians he is still keeping in prison? Would you like to thank him for that, too? And now that we’re at it, don’t you f.cking Google before you tweet? Apparently not, since you are not even aware that he is still doing business with Israel,” he tweeted.
Journalist Yavuz Baydar echoed a similar view, saying some prominent people like Waters get engaged in a “justified cause” but that they are “unable to grasp the immense complexities of today’s world. With his one-track mindedness, @rogerwaters inevitably fell into this trap. So sad.”
Emre Yeksan, a Turkish producer and director, appealed to Waters on X, recalling that Erdoğan’s government is arresting young people who protest their continuing trade with Israel.
“What a shame that you buy into this cheap, despicable propaganda,” he said.
In the latest such incident referred to by Yeksan, Turkish police detained 20 protesters in Ankara on October 7 during a demonstration against Turkey’s ongoing trade with Israel, despite a government-imposed ban.
The protest was organized by Filistin İçin Bin Genç (One Thousand Youths for Palestine), whose members face frequent detentions due to their protest of Turkey’s ongoing trade with Israel.
Although the Turkish government announced a halt in exports to Israel after a public outcry over Israel’s military actions in Gaza in May, official data show a near cessation of direct exports to Israel but trade with Palestine surging to unprecedented levels, raising questions about whether goods are being rerouted to Israel.
Members of Filistin İçin Bin Genç said their protests were aimed at exposing the Turkish government’s hypocrisy in its dealings with Israel.
According to the group, Turkish businesses are continuing to supply goods, particularly steel and construction materials as revealed by investigative journalist Metin Cihan, who accuses the Turkish government of using Palestine as a cover to continue supplying critical materials to Israel’s military and economy.