Turkey's president hasn't threatened to intervene in the Israel-Hamas war
He invited "all humanity" to help stop “unprecedented brutality in Gaza" but did not threaten Israel
CLAIM: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to intervene in the Israel-Hamas war.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The conservative Muslim president has said no such thing. A social media post he wrote recently about the ongoing conflict has been misquoted.
THE FACTS: As the latest Israel-Hamas war threatens to drag other nations into a broader conflict, social media users are falsely claiming at least one regional power is ready to enter the fray.
Many are sharing a quote they say is from Erdogan, in which the long serving leader warns his country will take decisive steps to end the conflict if the destruction of Hamas-controlled Gaza continues.
“Turkish President Erdogan has THREATENED to intervene in the Israeli war on Gaza: ‘I call on all humanity to take action to stop this unprecedented brutality in the Gaza Strip. If not, we will do it’,” wrote one user on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
The Wednesday post, which also included a headshot of the Turkish president, has been liked or shared more than 105,000 times as of Friday.
But the posts are misquoting a message Erdogan wrote on Tuesday on his personal account on X about the deadly conflict.
In the Oct. 17 message, which was written in Turkish, the president did “invite all humanity” to help stop the “unprecedented brutality in Gaza,” as the posts claim.
But he doesn’t write “If not, we will do it” or other threatening phrases suggesting a direct military intervention by Turkey, according to native Turkish speakers and other experts who reviewed Erdogan’s social media posts for The Associated Press.
“President Erdogan did not threaten to intervene in the conflict,” Steven Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington think tank, wrote in an email. “He was speaking generally about getting the world to put pressure on Israel to stop its military campaign.”
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, a political science professor at Northwestern University who specializes in the Middle East, added that she hasn’t seen any indication that Erdogan has made such a threat elsewhere.
Turkish government spokespersons didn’t respond to emails seeking comment Friday, but Erdogan posted a lengthier statement on his personal account on X, also written in Turkish, in which he denounced Israel’s attacks on Gaza, criticized Western nations and media outlets and called for the international community to push for a ceasefire.
The official, English-language account for the Turkish president’s office echoed that sentiment in a post on Friday about a call between Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
“Underscoring that forcing the Palestinians in Gaza to migrate from their homeland is unacceptable, President Erdoğan stressed that Türkiye will continue to make every effort in order for peace to be ensured and for humanitarian aid as well as healthcare services to be immediately delivered to Gaza,” the office wrote.
