By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ANKARA/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that Turkey has cut its ties with the State of Israel, marking a sharp escalation in diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
“We have cut trade and ties with Israel, period,” Erdoğan said in remarks to Turkish media.
However, Israeli officials in Jerusalem said they were unaware of the diplomatic status change.
While Turkey recalled its ambassador from Israel “in protest of the Gaza War,” the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv is still operating, Israeli sources said.
Erdoğan spoke to reporters aboard his plane following recent visits to Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.
The Turkey’s leader stressed his condemnation of what he called “genocide” by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.
ISRAEL DENIES
Israel’s government has vehemently denied committing atrocities, saying it is fighting Iran’s proxies, such as Hamas, after the group killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7 last year.
However, Erdoğan said there was “an urgent need” for humanitarian aid and an immediate ceasefire. “As you know, intense efforts are being made to keep the pressure on Israel alive and to take coercive measures against this country based on international law,” he added.
The Turkish president has been among Israel’s harshest critics before and after last year’s Hamas massacre, described as “the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust,” or Shoah.
He refused to condemn the Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians and instead lashed out at Israel for its war against Hamas in Gaza.
In March, Erdoğan emphasized Turkey’s strong ties with Hamas, which he refuses to recognize as a “terrorist organization.”
“Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them. No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” he said
HITLER COMPARISON
The Turkish president has also compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler who ordered the murder of six million Jews.
“Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, like today’s Nazis,” Erdoğan claimed.
In May, the Turkish leader escalated his rhetoric by calling Netanyahu a “vampire” and said the State of Israel was a threat to “all of humanity.”
He also announced that Turkey would halt all commercial trade with the Jewish state. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz strongly condemned Erdoğan, accusing him of undermining both Israeli and Turkish traders.
“Erdoğan crossed a line and blocked ports for Israeli exports and imports,” Katz complained.
“This is how a dictator behaves – trampling on the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen and ignoring international trade agreements,” he argued.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Iran and the United States held a second round of nuclear talks Saturday in Rome, where both sides agreed to begin drafting a potential deal. Iran’s foreign minister confirmed the move, while a U.S. official reported “very good progress.”
In a forceful Saturday night address following Hamas’s rejection of the latest hostage deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “I will not surrender to murderers.”
The U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting some Venezuelans in the country who’ve been identified as members of violent gangs, including the terrorist organization, Tren de Aragua.
Easter Sunday remained far from peaceful in Ukraine as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia intensified shelling and the use of drones. The reported attacks came despite Moscow’s announcement of an Easter ceasefire.
As Easter approached, there was some hope for hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war and scores of injured soldiers, with officials saying they were being exchanged on Saturday. It also came after U.S. Vice President JD Vance cautiously expressed optimism about an end to the more than three-year war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Hamas has formally rejected Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal, criticizing it as a “partial” deal that fails to guarantee a complete end to the war or a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The United States may abandon efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine within days if no clear progress is made, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on April 18. Speaking after talks in Paris with European and Ukrainian leaders, Rubio said President Trump is prepared to “move on” from the negotiations in the absence of any clear signs of progress.