He made the comment after describing what Palestinian and
Turkish officials said was the killing by Israeli troops of a Turkish-American
woman taking part in a protest on Friday against settlement expansion in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"The
only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state
terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries," Erdogan said at an
Islamic schools' association event near Istanbul.
He said recent steps that Turkey has taken to improve ties
with Egypt and Syria are aimed at "forming a line of solidarity against
the growing threat of expansionism," which he said also threatened Lebanon
and Syria.
Israeli
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Erdogan's remark was
"a dangerous lie and incitement," and that the Turkish leader has
been working for years with Iran to undermine the region's moderate Arab
regimes.
Erdogan hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi in Ankara this week and they discussed the Gaza war and ways
to further repair their long-frozen ties during what was the first such
presidential visit in 12 years.
Ties between them started thawing in 2020 when Turkey began
diplomatic efforts to ease tensions with estranged regional rivals, including
the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan said in July that Turkey would extend an invitation
to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "any time" for possible
talks to restore relations between the two neighbours, who severed ties in 2011
after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
Israel's military said after Friday's incident that it was
looking into reports that a female foreign national "was killed as a
result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the
circumstances in which she was hit are under review."
