'Turkey won't be silent if Israel attacks Lebanon, Gaza'

November 25, 2010

By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS

11/25/2010 16:50

In Beirut, Erdogan says Israel cannot " enter Lebanon with the most modern

aircraft and tanks to kill women and children. "

Turkey will not stay silent in the event of an Israeli attack on Lebanon or the

Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Beirut on Thursday,

according to an AFP report.

" Does (Israel) think it can enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and

tanks to kill women and children, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then

expect us to remain silent? " Erdogan asked on the final day of a two-day visit

to Lebanon.

" Does it think it can use the most modern weapons, phosphorus munitions and

cluster bombs to kill children in Gaza and then expect us to remain silent? We

will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available to us, " he

added.

During the course of his trip, Erdogan met with officials and visited the north

and south of the country.

On Thursday in Beirut, hundreds of Lebanese of Armenian descent clashed with

army troops during a protest over the Turkish prime minister's visit.

He was inaugurating a hospital in the southern port city of Sidon as hundreds of

protesters gathered in the capital's Martyrs' Square.

When demonstrators tore up a large poster of Erdogan and pelted troops with

rocks, security responded by beating up a number of them.

There were no reports of major injuries.

Lebanon has 150,000 Armenians, or nearly 4 percent of its population, which

harbors deep animosity toward Turks over the 1915 killing of up to 1.5 million

Armenians.

On Wednesday, Erdogan attempted to ease tensions in Lebanon over the soon to be

released findings of the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former

Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Erdogan, during a speech in northern Lebanon, said that if Hizbullah were found

guilty of the Hariri assassination, it would impact the entire region.

He suggested that the tribunal delay releasing its findings for another year.

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