Turkish-Jewish ties focus of panel
by Sandra Adelstein
Washinngton Jewish Week
Dec 24 2004
WJW Intern — Turkey’s star is rising. The country’s inclusion into
the European Union is on the horizon, enabling it to transcend hundreds
of years of isolation as the only Muslim country in Europe.
Its relationship with Israel is stable, with military and economic
cooperation continuing, despite rising Turkish anti-Semitism and
criticism of Israeli government policies.
At a D.C. forum on Turkish-Jewish relations, held earlier this month
at the 25th annual convention of the Assembly of Turkish American
Associations, speakers offered insights into Turkey’s historical and
current relations with the Jewish people.
A Turkish-Jewish activist who lived in Israel for more than 15 years,
Rachel Sharon Krespin, now a Connecticut resident, called on the
Turkish government to condemn anti-Semitism.
She characterized the anti-Semitic activities of ultra-right parties
as an “anti-Jewish campaign,” and described an increasingly hostile
atmosphere fomented by right-wing journalist and political parties
that culminated in the bombing of two synagogues and the killing of
a Jewish dentist.
Jewish citizenship and loyalty are questioned, according to Krespin,
and Adolf Hitler is praised by these extremist voices. She drew
a direct parallel between anti-Jewish hysteria and anti-Israeli
propaganda, noting the words of Turkish journalist Ayse Onal, “It is
impossible to write one good thing about Israel without being attacked
as a lackey of the Jews.”
She added that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was called a
butcher by protesters when he arrived in Turkey last year.
Anti-Semitism in Turkey is at it its highest level since World War II,
according to Daniel Mariaschin, B’nai B’rith International’s executive
vice president, who also spoke on the panel.
He singled out political cartoons, which he likened to cartoons in
the Nazi press.
A member of the Republican opposition to Turkey’s government took a
different perspective, downplaying the impact of anti-Semitism. The
bulk of Turkish people are not anti-Semitic and “disagreeable voices
don’t represent the views of Turkey,” said panelist Sukru Ekdag,
a former Turkish ambassador to the United States.
He focused his criticism on the Israeli government. “What is being
criticized,” he said, are Sharon’s policies. “Israel has to be more
constructive in resolving the Palestine issue,” he said.
Krespin, however, lashed out at criticism of Israeli actions. “Turkey
should not characterize the actions against Hamas as state terrorism,”
she said. Although she applauded Turkey’s potential participation
in Middle East talks, she warned against Hamas’ participation in the
peace process, which some in Turkey have supported.
“Hamas’ credo is the destruction of the State of Israel,” she said.
“Inclusion in the political process would not negate its long-term
goal of the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Despite the rising anti-Semitism and criticism of Israeli policies
in the West Bank and Gaza, Turkey and Israel continue their military
cooperation. An agreement signed by the two nations in 1996 has
burgeoned into economic and cultural agreements. American Jewish groups
also have lobbied Congress on behalf of Turkish military interests.
Krespin also pointed out that Turkey was one of the first nations to
establish relations with the state of Israel, soon after Israel’s
independence, and forecasted that both countries have an important
role to play in bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East.
According to Krespin, Turkey has written human rights into its
constitution providing for the rights of minorities and prisoners in
preparation for its admission as a full member of the European Union.
She cautioned, though, that reforms should not “constitute an all-costs
national goal.”
Asked about the Turkish government’s stance on the Armenian genocide,
she said that a massacre of Armenians took place between 1915 and 1917,
but denied that it had been planned by the Turkish government.
Krespin, who is the executive director and founder of the American
Council on Jewish Turkish, insisted that the Armenians had massacred
as many Turks as Turks had massacred Armenians, a supposition that
many historians dispute.
It is estimated that between 600,000 and 1 million Armenians were
killed by Turks between 1915 and 1917, and that hundreds of thousands
more were forced into exile.
The panelists had no comment in response to a question about Seymour
Hersh’s New Yorker magazine article last June, which said that Israel
was providing military and intelligence support to the Kurds to offset
the influence of Iran, a serious point of contention between Israel
and Turkey.
Asked about the point after the conference, David Siegel, press attache
at the Israeli embassy, denied Israeli involvement with the Kurds.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress