Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Woe to the Arabs from an Approaching Evil

Dr. Hassan Issa Al-Talib

Translated by: Ramadan Ahmed

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a confident and purposeful speech before the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which represents the international community’s parliament, the foremost centre of global public opinion, and a key source of decision-making. Since its establishment in 1945 after the collapse of the League of Nations following the outbreak of World War II, the United Nations has been holding regular annual sessions where the heads of states and governments review the world’s political, economic, health, and security conditions.

This year, the 79th session convened on September 21 under the theme “Summit of the Future.” The main agenda focused on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the most important of which were the fight against poverty, pandemics, climate change, and conflict resolution.

Under this last agenda item, Turkish President Erdoğan delivered a fiery and impactful address that bypassed formalities and evaded hot topics, boldly acknowledging the legitimacy of the Palestinian resistance fighting against the Zionist occupation in Palestine. He described it as a legitimate resistance movement based on the United Nations Charter. Erdoğan stated that what Israel has been doing, in terms of extermination efforts since October last year, is an attack on free people struggling to liberate their occupied lands and homes. He emphasised that the core of the problem in Palestine is the settler occupation, which has been enforced through armed force, deceitful conspiracies, and military occupation of lands that Israel has refused to relinquish since 1967, despite numerous United Nations resolutions.

In an ironic coincidence, the number of this 79th session matches the number of unanimous resolutions passed by the United Nations, all of which Israel has refused to comply with and which the international community, represented by the Security Council, has failed to enforce due to the United States use of its veto power. This has become a grave threat to the continued existence of the United Nations as a credible international institution tasked with enforcing global peace and security. The consequences of the U.S. and its European allies’ double standards, particularly since the genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023 and the widespread failure to achieve international justice by all U.N. agencies, warn of the destruction of nations, entities, and institutions. This is particularly concerning in terms of the survival of states and the acceleration of their demise, as referenced in the noble saying: “The people before you were destroyed because if a noble person among them stole, they would let him go, but if a weak person stole, they would punish him.” This is precisely what America is doing today concerning the application of international law to weaker nations while refusing to enforce it upon itself or its allies, especially Israel, in a repetitive, obnoxious, and offensive manner. This behaviour accelerates the decline of its power and its eventual disappearance, as foretold by the prophetic saying.

However, the most significant aspect of President Erdoğan’s statement was his proposal to establish an “International Humanitarian Alliance” to halt the genocide against the Palestinian people. He mentioned that this alliance would be modelled after the one formed by European countries—including Britain, France, and the Soviet Union—against the Nazi aggression led by Adolf Hitler, who occupied Paris in 1941. Later, the U.S. joined the war under President Theodore Roosevelt after the Germans targeted American commercial ships, took control of the Atlantic Ocean, and disrupted international trade routes in the Pacific, aided by their ally Japan, as well as in the Mediterranean through the Nazi-Fascist alliance between Hitler and Mussolini in Italy.

Hitler’s defeat was a victory for collective humanitarian values, transcending the ideological differences between nations. Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union and head of Marxist-Leninist ideology, was, in principle, the archenemy of liberal capitalism, which underpinned the systems in the U.S., Britain, and France. However, as the saying goes, “misfortunes bring people together,” and “necessity knows no law.” Erdoğan’s reference was a subtle diplomatic comparison between what Hitler did in Germany against the Jews and the peoples of Europe and what Netanyahu is doing against the citizens of Palestine and neighbouring Arab countries. The death toll from the Zionist genocide has exceeded 41,000, with more than 96,000 wounded, 70% of whom are women and children.

Additionally, Erdoğan referenced an earlier European alliance before the days of Hitler: the Holy Alliance of the 19th century. This alliance was initiated by Tsar Alexander I of Russia, who represented the head of the Orthodox Church, with the participation of Austria, the protector of Catholics, and Prussia, whose king represented the Protestants. Napoleon had insulted Pope Pius VI, imprisoned him, attacked his residence in the Vatican, trashed it, and abolished the authority of the Catholic Church in France. He imprisoned priests, subjected them to quick trials, and confiscated church property. In 1809, the Pope excommunicated Napoleon for apostasy. In response, these countries allied to defeat Napoleon, which they achieved in 1815 at the famous Battle of Waterloo, where Britain, the protector of the Anglican Church, played a role. The Duke of Wellington led the British army in that battle. This Holy Alliance allowed European countries and their peoples to enjoy a century of peace and security on the continent until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

These events represent international precedents that President Erdoğan, by recounting them, sought to remind the gathered heads of state and governments in New York of their moral, legal, and humanitarian duties. Since international diplomacy often draws on precedents, these two incidents—both from Europe—remain legitimate markers of the importance and necessity of forming international, continental, and regional alliances to combat the rampant evil that threatens regional, continental, and global peace and security. When arrogant tyrants and bloodsuckers embark on actions that, if left unchecked, could hasten the destruction of humanity, such precedents serve as guiding lights to rally global public opinion through the largest forum of international society—the United Nations General Assembly.
Additionally, from the well-known Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) recognition of the pre-Islamic “Hilf al-Fudul” (Alliance of Virtue), which was established under the patronage of a nobleman of that era, Abdullah ibn Jud’an, is relevant here.

This alliance was a humanitarian and ethical pact among Arab tribes to support the weak, marginalised, and oppressed, regardless of their location or who wronged them. In Islamic Sharia, there is a definitive Quranic verse that calls on Muslims to help the oppressed men, women, and children, wherever they may be, regardless of their religion, colour, or gender. The verse even urges Muslims that aiding these weak individuals elevates them to the rank of divine guardianship and assistance for the sake of Allah: “And why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and for those oppressed men, women, and children who cry out, ‘Our Lord! Rescue us from this city of wrongdoers and appoint us a protector and a helper” (Quran 4:75).

Given the current Arab inaction at the international level and the failure of most Islamic countries to fulfil their religious duty to support the oppressed Palestinians, who are only fighting to reclaim their homes from which they were expelled and to recover their stolen wealth, their slain women and children, their religious persecution, the occupation of their mosques, and the desecration of their places of worship—international society continues to await action from the Arabs, their closest kin. But it has not come. Instead, support for the Arab Palestinians has come from nations that are neither ethnically Arab nor geographically close but take pride in their principles and humanity. Today, these nations, led by Iran and Türkiye, are exclusively supporting the armed resistance.

In a world where there is no place for the weak and the hesitant and where no attention is paid to those who falter or shrink back from justice in international political and geostrategic matters, what is needed is to gather strength from collective power. This could be achieved by calling for a joint conference of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to bring President Erdoğan’s initiative into action, with decisive and binding steps to support the oppressed, enabling them to gain the deserved international recognition for themselves and their faith.

It is inconceivable that those standing up for Gaza, Palestine, Arabs, and Muslims are countries that are neither Arab-majority nor predominantly Islamic, like South Africa, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador—nations that have risen through their human connection and liberationist ethics to prosecute Zionism in international courts. Even in pre-Islamic times, Arabs would warn their brethren against the consequences of hesitation, subservience, and failing to support one another. Their voices would rise in warning against abandonment, as the poet Abd al-Qays said:

“If you are my true brother, show me where I am wrong or right…

Otherwise, reject me and take me as an enemy, for I will beware of you and you of me.”

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) also warned against hesitation. As narrated by Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet entered upon her, his eyes reddened, and said: “There is no god but Allah; woe to the Arabs from an Approaching Evil.”