Overview
- The Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said in a CNN Türk interview that Israel was “a common problem of humanity” and that Israelis had become “a burden the humanity can no longer bear,” a transcript posted by Turkey’s foreign ministry confirms.
- Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar called Fidan’s language a “call to genocide” and published his condemnation on X, framing the comments as an entrenchment of anti-Jewish rhetoric.
- German parties including the SPD, Greens and the Left demanded an explicit government response, saying Fidan crossed a red line and that such dehumanizing language from a NATO member should not go unanswered.
- German foreign minister Johann Wadephul publicly called the remarks “completely inappropriate” and announced he will travel to Israel to meet Gideon Sa’ar to consult before the NATO summit in Ankara.
- The dispute follows Israel’s recent recognition of the Armenian genocide and reflects a wider pattern of rising Ankara rhetoric toward Israel, creating a test for NATO cohesion and forcing Berlin to balance moral responsibility on antisemitism with strategic ties to Turkey.