Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, just after his government and Israel formally reconciled after six years of strife.
"I do not agree with what Hitler did and I also do not agree with what Israel did in Gaza," Erdogan said in a rare interview with Israel television. “There is no place to make a comparision about which was more barbaric.”
The comment appeared to be a doubling down on remarks he made in 2014, during an Israeli military offensive in the isolated Palestinian coastal enclave, under a strict blockade.
He then accused Israel of genocide and said its actions were more barbaric than the Nazi regime.
This month, the two countries agreed to exchanged ambassadors, for the first time since 2010. That year, an Israeli naval raid of an aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip left 10 Turkish citizens dead.
Erdogan remained angry about the army's boarding of the aid ship, saying Israel's insistence that its soldiers tried to prevent bloodshed when boarding the Mavi Marmara boat in international waters was "all lies."
The interview is Erdogan's first with an Israeli media outlet since the two nations mended ties over the summer.
The Turkish leader pushed back against the questions on the naval incident by journalist Ilana Dayan from the TV show Uvda ("Fact") on Channel 2.
"The fact that you are a journalist should not prevent you from speaking correctly. Now, if you think you can put Tayyip Erdogan in a corner, you can't," he said.
Israel agreed to pay 20 million dollars in compensation, apologized over the incident and allowed Turkey to bring in humanitarian aid to Gaza.
However, Ankara's key demand that Israel lift its blockage on Gaza was not met as part of the reconciliation deal.
Erdogan's government, controlled by his Islamic-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), continues to maintain close ties with Hamas, an Islamist militant movement which rules the Gaza Strip.
The president said he himself has contact with the group. Israel and many Western nations see Hamas as a terrorist organization but Erdogan rejected this definition.
He also insisted there could be no peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians without the Islamist movement, saying such a deal was paramount for the region.
The Turkish leader continued to express anger over failed efforts in 2008 to seal a peace deal between Syria and Israel, which his government had tried to mediate, saying Israel's attack on Gaza “at the last minute” scuppered the project.
Uvda said Erdogan had not given an interview to Israeli media in 13 years.
More generally, Erdogan insisted journalists in his country were not jailed for their work, though over 120 members of the press are currently in jail.
"Do journalists have freedom without limit?" he asked, rhetorically.
About the election of Donald Trump and anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from the campaign and leaders in the transition team, Erdogan said he does not believe the president-elect will adopt negative positions.
"After his win, we spoke by phone," Erdogan said, by way of example.
By Shabtai Gold
