TURKISH PM ASKED TO ADDRESS ANTI-SEMITISM

Jewish Telegraphic Agency
446/jewish-groups-call-on-turkish-prime-minister-t o-address-anti-semitism
Jan 22 2009
NY

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Five major Jewish organizations called on the
Turkish prime minister to "urgently address" a wave of anti-Semitism
in his country.

In a letter to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the groups’ leaders wrote, "Turkey
rightly prides itself on many centuries of coexistence with Jews. But
today, our Jewish friends in Turkey feel besieged and threatened."

Signing on to the letter were the leaders of the American Jewish
Committee, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith International, the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and
the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Among the incidents cited in the letter are Istanbul billboards full
of anti-Jewish propaganda posters, the door to a Jewish-owned shop
in Istanbul with a sign reading "Do not buy from here, since this
shop is owned by a Jew" and the defacing of a synagogue, which has
led to the closure of all but one of the synagogues in the city of
Izmir. Protesters also have expressed their hatred of Jews at the
Israeli Consulate.

The groups’ missive notes a connection between "the inflammatory
denunciation of Israel by Turkish officials" and the rise of
anti-Semitism. Erdogan has called Israeli actions in Gaza "a crime
against humanity" and told a municipal election campaign rally that
the Jewish state was "perpetrating inhuman actions which would bring
it to self-destruction."

"To be sure, we disagree with your government’s view of the situation
in the Gaza Strip and with some of your own harshest statements,"
the leaders wrote. "We should certainly agree, however, that such
differences of opinion do not justify any display of anti-Semitism
in Turkey or elsewhere."

The organizations that signed on to the letter declined to support a
2007 U.S. congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide,
concerned that such legislation could harm the relationships between
the United States and Turkey and Israel and Turkey.