Israel seeks entry ban for President Erdogan’s son & senior Turkish officials, as Minister Chikli calls Turkey an ‘enemy state’

Israel's diaspora minister has instructed his ministry to impose entry bans on 28 Turkish officials, including Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Amichai Chikli, minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, said Turkey would be treated “like terror groups” due to what he described as the Erdogan regime’s hostility toward the Jewish state and its close ties with the terrorist organization Hamas.

“Turkey is an enemy state. These days, we understand more than ever that it is part of the axis of evil, and just as we act against terror organizations, we will act against those who are revealed as an enemy state,” Chikli announced.

The ministry's Director-General Avi Cohen Scali revealed that the entry ban list includes “senior figures from Turkey, including media figures and leading businesspeople, who consistently and publicly work to promote boycotts, delegitimization and incitement against the State of Israel, fueling hatred and encouraging boycotts.”

He added that other senior Turkish officials on the list include Fehmi Bülent Yildirim, head of the IHH organization and one of the initiators of the anti-Israel Mavi Marmara flotilla, as well as Turkey’s head of religious affairs, Dr. Ali Erbas.

Erdogan’s son has reportedly actively called for boycotts against the Jewish state and taken part in anti-Israel rallies since the Hamas-initiated war in Gaza started in October 2023. 

The Israeli ministry’s initiative is based on an amendment to the Entry Into Israel Law, which explicitly prevents people driven by antisemitism from entering the Jewish state.

There are no indications that the senior Turkish officials have any immediate plans to visit Israel. However, Chikli stressed that “there have already been high-level visits by senior Turkish officials to Israel, including to the Temple Mount. Turkey also has extensive activity through TIKA, mainly in east Jerusalem, so the assumption that they will not come to Israel is incorrect.”

“Turkey is not a democracy. It is not a partner in anything. When he [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] says he wants to take Jerusalem in ‘Palestine,’ I believe him,” he concluded.

Israeli leaders across the political spectrum recently expressed concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump decided to include Turkey and Qatar in his Gaza Executive Board. Both Turkey and Qatar have close ties with Hamas and have adopted extreme anti-Israel positions. 

Israel and Turkey used to have close military and intelligence ties. However, bilateral relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply during the reign of the current Turkish Islamist leader Erdogan.

Erdogan has refused to condemn the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 250 people from southern Israel in 2023. The Turkish leader has also denied that Hamas is a de facto terrorist organization, despite its open calls for Israel’s destruction and the murder of all Jews. Since the Oct. 7 attack, Erdogan has escalated his anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric, demonizing Israel for defending itself against Iran and its terrorist proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. He has equated Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas with “genocide,” while ignoring Hamas’ genocidal ideology toward Jews.

In 2024, Erdogan stressed that his government has close ties with Hamas while comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. 

“Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, like today’s Nazis,” Erdogan said.