ANKARA, October 15. /TASS/. The Palestinian people rue the day the state of Israel was founded, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"Israel’s policy of occupation, destruction and executions has been continuing non-stop for 76 years. Bloodshed in Palestine has never stopped. Look, the state of Israel was established in 1948, and it would be wrong to call it a state. In the eyes of Palestinians, this was the first major catastrophe, which occurred on May 14, 1948. Israeli forces ousted nearly a million Palestinians and destroyed 675 of their villages and cities," he said during the Palestine Future Conference organized by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development party.
"The so-called State of Israel is the only UN member country with vague official borders," Erdogan said. "I said this during the 74th UN General Assembly and showed that the map of Israel has been changed many times since 1947. I asked what Israel’s borders are. No one answered this question."
The Israeli leadership, in his words, has demonstrated that "they won’t be content with the occupation of Gaza so it attacked Lebanon." "We can predict where this expansionism is headed if Israel is not stopped," he said. "We have those who don’t understand, who don’t see the huge danger looming over our country. But we see these risks and are taking precautions."
Erdogan said earlier that Israel’s ultimate goal in the region is to control parts of Turkey’s territory. The opposition came out against such statements and requested a closed-door parliamentary session on the Israeli threat. This meeting was held on October 8 and its records will remain sealed for ten years.