Turkiye slams Israel ministers’ ‘aggressive and expansionist’ remarks

Turkiye yesterday denounced statements made by Israeli ministers directed at Ankara, calling them “provocative” and reflective of what it described as the Israeli government’s “aggressive and expansionist policies”, Anadolu reported.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said such rhetoric “not only reveals their state of mind but also mirrors the fundamentalist and racist character of the current Israeli administration.”

The ministry questioned Israel’s discomfort with developments in Syria and Lebanon that “offer great hope for peace, stability, and prosperity in our region and are supported by the international community.”

It also condemned a series of air and ground attacks carried out by Israeli forces overnight on 2 April in Syria.

“There was no provocation or assault directed at Israel from the Syrian field,” the ministry said, adding: “These simultaneous attacks demonstrate a foreign policy understanding that thrives on conflict.”

The statement said Israeli officials’ rhetoric directed at Turkiye aims to distract the global community from the actions of its forces in besieged Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“They cannot conceal the reality of what they are doing in Gaza, the war being waged against the Palestinian people, [illegal Israeli] settler violence, or the intent to annex the West Bank,” it stressed.

“Israel has become the biggest threat to the security of our region,” the statement said, slamming Tel Aviv for undermining the territorial integrity of neighbouring countries and fostering instability.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar yesterday accused Ankara of playing a “negative role” in Syria, in Lebanon and in other regions. “They [Turkiye] are doing their utmost to have Syria as a Turkish protectorate. It’s clear that is their intention,” he told a press conference in Paris.

Turkiye has called on Israel to “abandon its expansionist policies, withdraw from occupied territories, and cease obstructing efforts to restore stability in Syria.”

The statement also urged the international community to fulfill its responsibility “to curb Israel’s increasingly unrestrained acts of aggression.”

Israeli warplanes launched a series of air strikes in several sites in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the western provinces of Hama and Homs on Wednesday.

Israel’s military claimed the strikes struck “military capabilities that remained” at the Hama airbase and T4 base in Homs, along with other military infrastructure in Damascus.

The Israeli occupation army also launched a ground offensive in Daraa in southern Syria, where at least nine people were killed, according to local authorities.

Since a coalition of opposition factions ousted the former regime’s president, Bashar Al-Assad, in late 2024, the Israeli military has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria, under the pretext of targeting military installations, naval bases and air bases to prevent the new administration from seizing the former army’s arsenal.

Israeli forces have also infiltrated the buffer zone in the Golan Heights and expanded their occupation of Syrian land.

Israel steps up Syria air strikes, claims Turkiye aims for ‘protectorate’