The wife of Erdogan challenges Melania Trump: “And Gaza?” »»

The first Turkish Lady, Emine Erdogan, wrote to Melania Trump to urge her to intervene in favor of the children of Gaza. She was inspired by the letter that Donald Trump’s wife had sent Vladimir Putin about Ukrainian children. “I have faith that the sensitivity you have manifested for Ukraine can also extend to Gaza”writes Emine Erdogan, stressing that this gesture would constitute a “Historical responsibility towards the Palestinian people”. An appeal that highlights a crying contrast: when the suffering of Ukrainian children arouses impulse of compassion and mobilization, that of the children of Gaza continues to face the silence of the great Western capitals. For the time being, the White House has not reacted.

This initiative illustrates Ankara’s strategy to replace the Palestinian cause at the center of the international debate, this time using the symbolic diplomacy of the first ladies. It also reveals, in hollow, the asymmetry of treatment reserved for war victims: Ukraine benefits from unanimous solidarity, while Gaza, despite the extent of destruction and the number of children killed, remains marginalized in western official speeches.