Countering recent claims by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said Israel is planning military action against Turkey following offensives in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza and Lebanon, his Israeli counterpart has ruled out the likelihood of such a move, saying that Israel has never had any such plans against Turkey, the Times of Israel newspaper reported.
“I saw that there were some comments made by the leader of Turkey regarding Israel’s supposed plans against Turkey,” Isaac Herzog said during a meeting with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem on Thursday. “I want to make clear Israel has never had any plans against Turkey.”
“On the contrary, we have great respect to the people of Turkey, and they have great respect for the people of Israel. We have longstanding relations between the peoples, and the peoples will prevail over all voices that are adverse to friendship and coexistence,” he added.
Erdoğan, who has been an outspoken critic of Israeli actions in Gaza accusing it of committing genocide, has recently suggested that Israel’s ambitions could extend to Turkey.
In a speech to parliament in September 2024 Erdoğan claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government harbors expansionist ambitions that may target parts of Anatolia.
“Israel’s expansionist agenda, driven by religious fanaticism, does not stop at Gaza. Their next target may well be our homeland,” Erdoğan said.
His remarks prompted the opposition to call for a closed session in parliament to be briefed on what kind of a threat Israel poses to Turkey.
The Turkish Parliament convened in a closed session on Tuesday, but leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Özgür Özel was dissatisfied with the session. He said in a later statement that there was no need to worry about Erdoğan’s remarks concerning Israel being a “national security threat” to Turkey. He said the government provided nothing to substantiate Erdoğan’s claims during the closed-door meeting.
Critics accused Erdoğan of seeking to reinvigorate the support for his party from the religious and nationalist circles of society by raising such fears and capitalizing on their dislike for the Israeli government and its policies.
Herzog had talks in Ankara with Erdoğan in March 2022 in the first visit by an Israeli president since 2007 amid a brief normalization in relations that were strained again after the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war in October 2023.