Erdogan says Turkey 'might enter Israel' as it did Karabakh and Libya

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country might enter Israel as it did with Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh to help the Palestinians.

“We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine. Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,” he said during a meeting of his ruling AK Party in his hometown of Rize.

“There is no reason why we cannot do this … We must be strong so that we can take these steps,” Erdogan added in the meeting, which was televised.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to Erdogan’s comments saying on X that the Turkish President is “following Saddam Hussein's footsteps and threatens to attack Israel”.

Katz said Erdogan should "remember what happened there and how it ended".

Erdogan was referring to his country’s military intervention in Libya in 2020 to support the UN recognised government of National Accord of Libya.

Last year, Turkey said it was using “all means” including military, to support Azerbaijan, which launched a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey denied, however, any direct intervention in Azerbaijan’s military operations there.