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Erdogan uses Gaza as a campaign tool

Though Israel’s Gaza operation is a central theme in its presidential campaign, Turkey remains largely irrelevant in efforts to end the fighting.
Supporters of Turkey's Prime Minister and presidential candidate Tayyip Erdogan wave flags in a boat on their way to an election rally in Istanbul August 3, 2014. Cheers erupted from the packed stands when Erdogan scored his third goal in a celebrity soccer match to mark the opening of an Istanbul stadium. His orange jersey bore the number 12, a reminder of Erdogan's ambition to become the nation's 12th president in Turkey's first popular vote for its head of state, on Aug. 10. After dominating Turkish poli

Israel’s Gaza operation has become one of the central themes of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign for the presidency culminating in an election this Sunday, Aug. 10, the first ever by public vote. Despite strong international criticism, Erdogan has repeatedly compared Israel’s Gaza operation to Adolph Hitler’s barbarism and accuses his opponent, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, of looking the other way on Israeli aggression.

“They are killing women so they cannot give birth; they are killing babies so they don’t grow up,” Erdogan said Aug. 3 at an election rally in Istanbul attended by nearly 2 million people accusing Israel of genocidal intent to create a pure race. “They are even afraid of babies, but believe me, the more they kill, the more scared they will be.”

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