Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday (13) that more than 1,000 Hamas members are being treated in hospitals in Turkey. He also stated that the group is a “resistance movement”.
“If you call Hamas a 'terrorist organization,' it will sadden us,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Ankara. The speech comes after Mitsotakis said that Hamas is a terrorist group.
“We do not consider Hamas a terrorist organization. More than 1,000 members of the group are undergoing treatment in hospitals across our country,” Erdogan said.
A Turkish official later said Erdogan had “made a mistake” and the patients in the medical units were Gazans.
“President Erdogan misspoke, he meant that 1,000 people from Gaza are under treatment, not Hamas militants,” said a Turkish official on condition of anonymity.
Reuters was unable to determine the background of those being treated in Türkiye. But in November, Ankara said it was evacuating dozens of injured or sick people from Gaza, mainly cancer patients, following Israel's offensive on the enclave.
Source: CNN Brasil
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