Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday commended the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its decision to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
"We support the arrest warrant. We consider it important that this courageous decision be carried out by all country members of the accord to renew the trust of humanity in the international system," Erdogan stated during a speech in Istanbul, as quoted by AFP.
"It is imperative that western countries -- who for years have given the world lessons on law, justice and human rights -- keep their promises at this stage," Erdogan added.
Erdogan’s comments follow those made by his Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who on Thursday called the warrants a good step towards “the realization of justice.”
In a post on X, Fidan wrote that the ICC decision is a “vital step” in bringing Israeli officials who have “committed genocide of the Palestinians” to justice.
He added that Turkey will continue to work towards the implementation of international law in all its institutions and rules to punish genocide.
"This is not only a duty towards the Palestinians who have been killed, but also towards all oppressed nations and future generations,” he said.
Turkey and Israel were headed towards reconciliation before Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, but Turkish officials, and in particular Erdogan, have resumed their attacks on Israel since that time.
In one speech, the Turkish President said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “committed one of the greatest atrocities of this century in Gaza and has already put his name down in history as the butcher of Gaza."
In July, Erdogan threatened to invade Israel, saying, "We must be strong so Israel won't be able to do these things to the Palestinians. Just as we entered Karabakh and Libya, we will do the same to Israel. There's nothing left to do, we must be strong."
He then continued to lash out at Israel, claiming that it "committed acts of barbarism" and that "Gaza has become the world's largest concentration camp."
This past week, Erdogan boasted of the fact that Turkey had denied President Isaac Herzog permission to use its airspace to travel to the COP climate summit in Azerbaijan.