Netanyahu attacks Erdoğan over Cyprus and Greece at UN

Sep 25, 2026 9:12 am Ibrar Younas 154

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his UN General Assembly address on Thursday to launch a personal attack on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accusing him of occupying northern Cyprus and acting against Greece. Netanyahu had met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis shortly before the speech.

Netanyahu attacks Erdoğan over Cyprus and Greece at UN

Netanyahu called Erdoğan a “tyrant” and accused him of spreading antisemitic claims, hosting Hamas leaders and seeking greater influence in Syria. He also claimed that Erdoğan “illegally occupies northern Cyprus” and “regularly transgresses against Greece”.

The Cyprus and Greece references gave the attack a wider regional dimension, particularly after Netanyahu’s meeting with Mitsotakis. Netanyahu’s claim ignored the Turkish Cypriots who live in the north and their place in the unresolved Cyprus dispute.

Ankara condemned the speech. Türkiye’s head of communications, Burhanettin Duran, called the accusations against Erdoğan baseless and said Netanyahu’s words could not divert attention from the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza or the international legal proceedings concerning the Israeli prime minister.

Erdoğan had criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza in his own UN address earlier in the week and urged countries to increase pressure on Israel to end the war. The exchange has now brought Cyprus and Greece into the two leaders’ escalating dispute.