ANKARA

The barbarity against women in Gaza has not received the reaction it deserves, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

“The identities of the perpetrator and the victim have once again determined the tone of the response,” Erdogan said at an event in the capital Ankara, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Erdogan said that the pressure on Israel has not been proportionate to the gravity of the crimes it has committed.

He said: “Two-thirds of the 70,000 Palestinians martyred in the Gaza genocide were, unfortunately, women and children. These are alarming numbers for those with a conscience.”

“We will defend what is right regardless of the identity of the oppressor or the oppressed, and we will voice the truth loudly on every platform,” the Turkish president said, adding that those who base their reactions on the identities of the victims and perpetrators are as complicit in the oppression and injustice as those who committed the crime.

“Yet, every attack on women's life, property, and dignity is an inhumane act that must be resisted without reservation. Combating these acts is our duty to one another as human beings,” Erdogan noted.

“We do not approve of an inherently human issue such as violence against women being used as fodder for ideological battles or as a tool in turf wars,” he added.

Erdogan said that violence against a human being, especially against women and children, is a betrayal of humanity itself, adding: “Anyone who raises a hand against a woman has darkened both his hand and his conscience.”

“As president and father of two daughters, I will continue to be at the forefront of combating violence against women and children, as I have always been,” Erdogan stressed.