Half of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, spans the eastern side of the Bosphorus, with its European half to the west. He also displayed on giant screens extracts from the so-called manifesto allegedly prepared by the suspect asserting he wanted to drive Turks from Turkey’s north-western, European region. This isn’t an individual act, this is organised.”Įrdoğan also showed grainy video footage of the shootings, which the gunman had broadcast live on Facebook. Ironically, Turkey’s vice-president, Fuat Oktay, had earlier called for all sides to stop using inflammatory language in the wake of the Christchurch attacks.īrenton Tarrant, 28, an Australian suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after 50 people were killed in the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch.Įrdoğan, trying to rally support for his AK party in the 31 March local elections, said: “They are testing us from 16,500km away, from New Zealand, with the messages they are giving from there. Erdoğan also displayed extracts from a “manifesto” posted online by the suspected attacker and later taken down.Įrdoğan, facing an uphill battle in local elections at the end of the month due to Turkey’s deep economic difficulties, which include high inflation and a construction crisis, claimed part of the Christchurch suspect’s manifesto was to keep Turks out of Europe, and said the attack was part of a worldwide campaign of Islamophobia. New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, rebuked Erdoğan for using footage of the shootings, saying it could endanger New Zealanders abroad.

Video of the nz christchurch shooting