German leaders host Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks today, in a highly controversial visit made more explosive by the Erdogan’s branding of Israel as a “terror state”, AFP reports.

Erdogan has been increasingly critical of Israel’s war against Gaza-rulers Hamas, triggered after the a deadly attack on October 7 that Israel said killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

While Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Israel to offer Germany’s unconditional and unwavering support after the Hamas attack, Erdogan has doubled down on his defence of the Hamas fighters as “liberators” fighting for their land.