Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has accused his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, of dehumanizing the Jewish people and inciting genocide over remarks Fidan made about Israel in a television interview.
Saar posted a video on X late on Thursday with an English translation of an interview Fidan gave to the CNN Türk broadcaster, in which the Turkish foreign minister said Israel’s politics and mindset had “become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.”
According to the translation, Fidan also described Israel as one of “humanity’s common problems” and called for international pressure on the country.
In his post on X, Saar described the remarks as “nauseating” and said they “constitute clear incitement to genocide.”
“Dehumanization of the Jewish people and portraying them as an ‘unbearable burden’ is the classic language of history’s greatest tyrants,” Saar wrote.
He called on the “enlightened world” and Turkey’s NATO allies to “unequivocally condemn this explicit call for Israel’s destruction.”
Fidan’s remarks were prompted by Israel’s formal recognition of the Armenian genocide.
According to historical research, around 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915 and 1916 during World War I as a result of systematic mass killings in the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey, the successor state to the empire, rejects the term genocide, arguing instead that between 300,000 and 500,000 people died in wartime violence and unrest.
The Turkish government described Israel’s recognition as a political act of retaliation and a diversionary tactic.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Israel was attempting to “cover up its own crimes” and to smear Turkey with slander, according to the state news agency Anadolu.
FILE PHOTO – Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, speaks during a joint press conference with his Canadian counter part Anita Anand in Ottawa. (is associated with: «Israel’s Saar accuses Turkish minister of ‘incitement to genocide’») Chris Tanouye/Canadian Press via ZUMA Press/dpa