ANTI-ISRAEL: IS TURKEY THE NEXT VENEZUELA?
by Aimee Kligman

Examiner.com
86-NY-Foreign-Policy-Examiner~y2009m2d3-AntiIsrael -Is-Turkey-the-next-Venezuela
Feb 4 2009

Ataturk would be extremely unhappy about the state of affairs in the
country he founded and endeavored to keep secular. The election of
Turkish Prime Minister and head of the Conservative Islamist Party
Tayyip Erdogan may change the secular element. From a historical
perspective, Turkey enjoyed good relations with Israel, and as of
late, was party to peace brokering on its behalf with Syria. The two
countries have enjoyed a close relationship, especially in the 1990’s
brought about by mutual fear of Iran, and Syria.

Since Israel’s incursion into Gaza in late December, the Muslim
majority in Turkey has been incensed and there have been several
antisemitic incidents in Istanbul, where a Jewish community of about
25,000 still thrives.

"Down with Israel", and "We don’t want you in the Turkish Republic"
were slogans painted in red on a building close to Istanbul’s
Neve Shalom Synagogue. A huge Palestinian flag was unfurled by the
street’s inhabitants, which has been closed and protected by police
vehicles. In addition, Turkish authorities have beefed up security
around the Rabbinate and buildings owned by the Jewish Community.

The Israeli Consulate in Istanbul received many threatening emails
accompanied by antisemitc slurs. Two synagogues, one in Izmir and
the other in Kadikoy have been vandalized with graffiti. It has
been reported that some Jews are thinking of leaving the country as
they indicate that this is the worst wave of antisemitism they have
witnessed, and believe it is exacerbated by PM Erdogan. He recently
stormed out of a conference at Davos where he told Israeli President
Simon Peres that Israel was murdering children on beaches.

There has been a call in the country to boycott Jewish businesses
and in Osmangazi, the largest city in Bursa, Jews were banned from
entering a local organization which also bans Armenians.

Yesterday, Turkey’s deputy prime minister Cemil Cicek told a news
conference: ""We attach importance to our relations with Israel and
we want to preserve those relations. Turkey is not targeting Israel
or its people. We have been expressing concern over the killing of
civilians and human tragedy in Gaza."

We’ll keep watching this one.