The defense minister accused Erdogan of financing and embracing Hamas, and claimed that he dreams of "restoring the Ottoman Empire" in a post on X/Twitter. "Now he's signed the 'Mecca Agreement' to defend Saudi Arabia," he said, "But when the Houthis fired missiles at Mecca and it was time to honor his word, he vanished into thin air." "Israel is strong and knows how to protect itself. We're not the Kurds and the desperate people he still oppresses in Turkey today," he said