Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued on Sunday to lash out at Israel's Cast Lead counter-terror operation in Gaza last winter, as he came to the defense of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who faces worldwide condemnation for the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of his country.

Addressing members of his party, Erdogan said he preferred meeting with Bashir over meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. “I wouldn't be able to speak with Netanyahu so comfortably as I would with Bashir,” he was quoted by Turkish media as saying. “I would say to [Bashir's] face, 'What you've done is wrong.'” The Turkish leader added that he had visited Darfur, and did not see evidence of genocide during his trip.