President Erdogan of Turkey Phones Pope Francis to Ask Him to Push Israel's Allies for Peace in Gaza and Voices Concern Over the Olympic Opening Ceremony



Following the continued attacks by Israel in Gaza, resulting in nearly 40,000 people killed (over half being women and children) and now with Israeli attacks in Lebanon and Iran, the President of Turkey has called Pope Francis. The Turkish president asked the pope to put pressure on Israel's allied countries, who are often financing the arms, to end the attacks. Israel's attacks followed an October 7th Hamas attack that killed over 1,000 people. (Vatican Media Screenshot Image from 2018 of Pres. Erdogan to the Vatican)

The Republic of Türkiye Directorate of Communications wrote:
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone with Pope Francis, Spiritual Leader of Catholic Christians and Head of the State of Vatican City. President Erdoğan stated that the immoral displays performed at a section of the opening of the Paris Olympic Games have caused outrage and provoked reactions. Saying that religious and moral values have been ridiculed and that the honor of humanity has been trampled upon under the guise of freedom of expression and tolerance, President Erdoğan warned that this offends Muslims as much as the Christian world, and that he believes it is necessary to raise a collective voice and display a unified stance against such actions. President Erdoğan pointed out that challenging the religious values and spreading perverse propaganda during the Olympic Games, which are actually held to unite the humanity, act as an alarm bell against the moral decay the world is drifting to. 
Stressing that Israel’s attacks on Gaza have turned into a genocide and that a major humanitarian crisis is unfolding, President Erdoğan underlined that Israel has been perpetrating massacres under the diplomatic, economic and military umbrella provided to it by some countries. The assassination against Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh and the attack on Lebanon have once against demonstrated that Israel is a threat to the entire region as well as the entire world and humanity, said President Erdoğan, adding that the alliance of humanity must take action before it is too late in order for Muslims and Christians, particularly those living in Palestine, to find peace. President Erdoğan expressed his belief that it would be beneficial for Pope Francis to hold talks with the countries that support Israel in terms of stopping the attacks and achieving lasting peace before the political, security and social structure of the region and the world sustains a permanent damage.
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 Pope Francis, for his part, thanked President Erdoğan for his efforts towards peace and for his sensitivity against the desecration of religious values.Pope Francis and President Erdogan last saw each other at the G7 Summit, although they have had regular communication throughout Francis' pontificate. In May 2020, they spoke about tensions in the Middle East. And one of Francis' first trips was to Turkey, where the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located. (Sources: Romereports, AP and Communications of the Gov. of Turkey linked below)

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