JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS SLAM ERDOGAN’S DEMARCHE IN DAVOS

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.01.2009 21:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An influential Jewish organization harshly criticized
on Friday Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he
stormed out of the Gaza session in Davos, saying this behavior is
"a public disgrace that may well encourage further outrage against
Israel and Jews."

"Prime Minister Erdogan’s tantrum at Davos throws gasoline on the
fire of surging anti-Semitism," American Jewish Committee (AJC)
Executive Director David A. Harris said in a statement issued on the
organization’s website early on Friday.

"Erdogan’s unjustified remarks and disrespect of Israel’s president
are yet another demonstration of how criticism of Israel is becoming
increasingly virulent," Harris added.

Although Erdogan underlined that his reaction did not target the
Israeli people or Jews, but the moderator of the session, AJC said
it cannot stay silent in the face of such rhetoric.

"The relationship between Turkey and Israel is a vital one that has
enjoyed the support of American Jews," Harris said. "But we cannot
remain silent in the face of such appalling rhetorical denunciations
of Israel, particularly when there has been a worrying surge of
anti-Semitism in Turkey in recent weeks."

AJC also was stunned to see Erdogan quote with approval the obscure
writings of a Jew turned anti-Semite, a former Israeli citizen named
Gilad Atzmon, who has said that "the Jewish state is the ultimate
threat to humanity and our notion of humanism".

"When the author of such ravings is quoted by the prime minister of
a democratic country, we must seriously ask ourselves where reason
ends and hatred begins," Harris said.

In a letter to Erdogan last week, AJC and four other American Jewish
organizations expressed profound concern over the current wave of
anti-Semitic manifestations in Turkey, Hurriyet daily reports.