Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s announcement on Wednesday that Ankara would sever all remaining ties with Israel is being met with condemnation from Capitol Hill lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Erdoğan told reporters aboard his plane en route home to Ankara from Azerbaijan, where he was participating in the United Nations’ annual COP29 summit, that his government would cease all diplomatic relations with Israel. The comments came six months after Turkey implemented a trade embargo with Israel in protest of the war in Gaza.
“The government of the Republic of Turkey, under the leadership of Tayyip Erdoğan, will not continue or develop relations with Israel,” Erdoğan said. “[Our ruling coalition] is resolute in its decision to cut ties with Israel, and we will maintain this stance in the future as well.”
The comments follow a year of increasing hostility and aggression from Erdoğan toward the Jewish state. Turkey announced in May that it would cut all trade ties with Israel.
Erdogan’s remarks came in response to a question from a journalist on his presidential plane seeking to confirm Turkish media reports that trade ties with Israel were quietly continuing.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry told Jewish Insider that “Israel does not know of a change in status in relations with Turkey.” The Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv was still open on Wednesday, according to ynet.
The Turkish president’s statements and actions have been met with growing hostility on Capitol Hill, where some lawmakers recently called for a public condemnation from the administration.
Reaction to the comments were swift and harsh, with lawmakers cautioning the Turkish leader against pursuing such a strategy.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told JI, “I think Turkey’s approach to the conflict has been outrageous. I think Israel is going to be just fine.”
“This will hurt Turkey in the West,” he added.
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) said the decision is “a wrongheaded move on his part” and that he’s “hoping that President Trump will use his influence over [Erdoğan] to get him to change his position.”
Most lawmakers who spoke to JI expressed concern about the developments.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, condemned Erdoğan’s behavior without discussing what actions could be taken.
“He’s been moving in that direction for a while. It’s extremely disappointing to have a NATO ally that’s going to do that. He has been terribly, he’s just been wrong in his accusations of what’s happening in the Middle East. We recognize that. We know that he has done this in the past. It concerns us,” Cardin said.
“It is never good when two close allies of the United States have such a significant falling out,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told JI. “We all remember when Erdoğan sponsored the [Gaza] flotilla [raid of 2010]. Turkey was one of the first and longest and most loyal supporters of Israel in the Muslim world. I look forward to digging into the reasons why and better understanding how this implicates our relations with both countries.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) called the situation “very unfortunate, obviously, but maybe not shocking.” Still, he said he wasn’t sure the best way to rein in Turkey without alienating a key ally.
“Turkey, yes, they’re a NATO ally, but they’ve also been a rebellious NATO ally of late. They’ve been hard to keep in line with Ukraine, much less Israel. I don’t know enough about what to do about the Turkey situation, because I don’t want to oversimplify it. Erdoğan, he’s complicated,” Cramer explained.
“Obviously we want them as a NATO ally, obviously we like them as an American ally and obviously what we don’t want to do is push them into the arms of an enemy. So I don’t know how you discipline that. I really don’t,” he continued.
JI’s Lahav Harkov contributed to this report
