ISRAELI MP SAYS THAT TEL AVIV SHOULD SUPPORT ARMENIAN THESIS WHEN TURKEY HARSHLY CRITICIZED ISRAEL
Journal of Turkish Weekly
aeli-mp-says-that-tel-aviv-should-support-armenian -thesis-when-turkey-harshly-criticized-israel.html
Jan 28 2009
Turkey
Nermin DURMAZ (JTW) – Turkey’s attitude to Cast Lead operation
caused disappointment in Israel, Zeev Elkin, a Likud party
member said. According to the Pan-Armenian.net site Elkin said
"Ankara’s position has proved inevitability of the Armenian Genocide
recognition. As to a Knesset resolution, the new parliament will
start work on February 24 and Likud party stands a good chance to
head it. We did not recognize the Armenian Genocide, and instead of
support Turkey, we received harsh criticism from Turkey."
Israel’s deputy foreign minister even said "Erdogan says that
genocide is taking place in Gaza. We [Israel] will then recognize the
Armenian-related events as genocide" although Mr. Erdogan has never
used the word of genocide for the Israeli attacks against Gaza.
Turkey has strongly criticized the Cast Lead operation Israel launched
in Gaza. In Gaza Operation more than 400 Palestinian children were
killed by the Israeli troops.
Mr. Elkin’s call to recognize the Armenian claims caused great
reaction in Turkey. Some of the nationalist papers called Israeli MP
Zeev Elkin as "blackmailer".
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sedat Laciner said "the recent shift in Israel’s
policy towards Turkey is not ethical. Israel has not supported
Armenian claims till now. If they start to change their pro-Turkish
Armenian policies due to the Gaza critics, they cannot explain the
reason of this change". Laciner further argued that the Israeli and
Jewish support for Turkish position should not be exaggerated because
the Jewish support for Turkey in the Congress has decreased too much
last year:
"We saw last year that many Jewish parliamentarians did support the
Armenian lobby. The Jewish support never solved the Armenian issue in
Turkish-American relations and the Armenian problem became a political
card which has been used against Turkey like a blackmail instrument."