Report: Turkey Accuses ‘Hitler of This Century’ Netanyahu of Genocide at International Court

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Emrah Gurel/AP
Frances Martel

Lawyers associated with the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey announced on Tuesday that they have sent a letter to the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “genocide” for greenlighting Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations to neutralize the jihadist terror group Hamas.

Metin Külünk, one of the two lawyers drafting the request, referred to Netanyahu as the “Hitler of this century” in a post on Twitter featuring the content of the letter, which is reportedly 23 pages long.

The ICC is a global legal body created by the Rome Statute, an international legal document, to process individual people charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Turkey is not a party to the Rome Statute, so it has no formal ability to ask the ICC to charge anyone, but it can recommend investigations. Israel is also not a party to the Rome Statute. The attorneys in question have not clarified exactly what the ICC could do in response to their petition given the lack of an enforcement mechanism and the fact that neither country involved recognizes the ICC.

“On behalf of the conscience of our citizens of the Republic of Turkey, against the genocide committed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Hitler of this century, in Gaza, that all the crimes he committed are crimes against humanity and that he must be tried in the International Criminal Court for the crime of genocide and as a murderer,” Külünk denounced on Twitter.

According to al-Mayadeen, a Lebanese pro-Hezbollah outlet, the petition must first arrive at the Turkish Ministry of Justice, which would then recommend action to the ICC.

Speaking to the Russian news agency Tass, Burak Bekiroglu, another lawyer involved in the effort, said on Tuesday that he expected the ICC to receive the full complaint next week. Tass noted that the complaint accused Netanyahu of all three crimes the ICC processes – “war, genocide, and crimes against humanity” – and demanded prosecution.

Israel is currently engaging in a kinetic action in Gaza, the stronghold of the terrorist organization Hamas, to prevent the group from being able to carry out more attacks against people within Israel. The action is a response to the unprecedented massacre of over 1,200 people Hamas executed on October 7. In a terrorist onslaught that Hamas has called the “al-Aqsa flood,” terrorists paraglided into Israel from Gaza and murdered entire families in door-to-door raids, torturing and killing children as young as infants in front of their parents, burning people alive, and committing atrocious acts of gang rape and other sexual crimes. The terrorists stormed a music festival, where they killed about 250 people, reportedly tortured attendees, and opened fire on crowds. About 250 people are believed to remain hostages under Hamas control in Gaza.

WATCH: Monument in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Children Held Hostage by Hamas

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart News

No member of the Turkish government has suggested the ICC prosecute Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh or any of the suspected organizers of the attack for the slaughter. The AKP government has also not suggested similar action against the leaders of Iran, the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism, which is believed to give Hamas as much as $100 million a year in funding for jihad.

The head of the AKP and president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a longtime Hamas ally who has repeatedly defended the group as “not a terrorist organization,” but a legitimate “resistance” operation against Israeli “terrorism.”

An IDF soldier unloads incubators delivered to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 13, 2023 (IDF)

Speaking to AKP lawmakers on Wednesday, Erdogan again repeated that Hamas is a legitimate political group.

“We never hesitate to say that Hamas (is made up of) resistance fighters striving to protect their homeland, despite the discomfort it may cause some,” Erdogan asserted, according to Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency.

In contrast, Erdogan declared Israel a “terrorist state” for attacking Hamas targets in Gaza.

Activists hold up a banner denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s actions during the war with Hamas as they demonstrate at the entrance of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Dutch authorities detained 19 activists who occupied the entrance to court. (Aleks Furtula/AP)

In early November, Erdogan announced that his government would no longer maintain communication with Netanyahu, stating that it had “written him off” and suggesting Turkey was considering the full rupture of diplomatic relations with Israel. That rupture has yet to occur, though Erdogan has engaged in consistent noxious pro-Hamas behavior since the October 7 attack.

In late October, Erdogan organized a rally that he claimed attracted 1.5 million people to Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, where he again insisted, “Hamas is not a terrorist organization.”

“Certainly, in such a climate of fire and blood, there have been regrettable events,” Turkey’s state Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan as saying at the time, an apparent reference to October 7. “However, none of these can serve as an excuse for campaigns aimed at discrediting the resistance carried out by the Palestinian people under various names.”

Erdogan again referred to Netanyahu as a “terrorist” on that occasion.

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