When asked about a potential conflict between Türkiye and Israel in Syria triggering NATO's Article 5, Rutte praised President Erdogan’s experience in avoiding escalation while emphasizing that we must not forget the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
"Tell me about Turkey and Israel. They're trading barbs at the moment. In your mind, if a conflict were to happen between Turkey, Israel and Syria, for example, does that trigger Article 5? Well, let me say this. President Erdogan is an extremely wise president. And I completely concur also with what President Trump said about Erdogan, that he is a wise leader. He is there for years in this role and in his job. You don't think he'll be baited? He will avoid getting into a situation which gets out of hand because he tries to do what this is exactly the role of Turkey can play. Like hosting this fantastic summit now here, being such an important ally in NATO. They're also the go-to people when it comes to finding ways to come to a deal because of the standing of President Erdogan, his foreign minister, his whole team. What if Mr Netanyahu makes a conflict unavoidable? Yeah, let me not speculate on that because in the end, let's not forget what happened on the 7th of October 2023, this terrible attack by Hamas on Israel. So it started not with Israel, but obviously, no, let me not speculate on what could happen in the next steps."
💬 Discussion
When asked about a potential conflict between Türkiye and Israel in Syria triggering NATO's Article 5, Rutte praised President Erdogan’s experience in avoiding escalation while emphasizing that we must not forget the October 7 attacks by Hamas.