ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel's attacks on Syria and Lebanon had reached a point where they also threaten Turkey, adding Israel's "aggression" posed a threat to the whole world and must be stopped.
NATO member Turkey has been once of the fiercest critics of Israel's assaults on Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon, saying Israel was the biggest obstacle to regional peace. It has halted all trade with Israel and called for measures against it at international courts.
"The attacks by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his newtork of murder on Lebanon and Syria have brought the issue to a point where it also threatens Turkey," Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament, and added that Ankara's security was tied to that of these two countries.
Erdogan also said Israel was leading a "sneaky effort" to destabilise African countries and the Mediterranean by igniting "the fire of discord" on the ethnically-split island of Cyprus.
"These small entities, whose ambitions far exceed their size, have boarded Israel's boat of mischief, taken on the role of Zionist subcontractors, and are pursuing some pipe dreams in the Eastern Mediterranean," he said, without elaborating.
"Nobody should chase adventures... I want everyone to know that if the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots are violated in the Eastern Mediterranean, our response will be very clear and very strong."
Turkey, Iran's neighbour, has blamed Israel's "provocations" for starting the U.S.-Iran war.
Erdogan on Wednesday urged world powers to take a more clear stance against Israel, saying it was emboldened by the "silence of international community".
"Pulling Israel back to within the bounds of the rule of law has become a shared duty not just for certain countries, but for all of humanity," he said.
