TURKEY PRESSURING ISRAEL OVER NEW ADL STANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY
Aug 27 2007
Turkey is pressing Israel to help reverse the Anti-Defamation League’s
new position on the Armenian genocide. Turkey’s foreign minister,
Abdullah Gul, reportedly told Israel’s ambassador in Ankara, Pinhas
Avivi, that Israel could have done more to prevent the ADL’s shift,
Ha’aretz reported. The ADL described World War I massacres of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks as "tantamount to genocide" last week, after declining
for years to take a position on the question. The Gul-Avivi meeting,
which became "shrill" according to Israeli Foreign Ministry sources,
seemed to confirm the seriousness with which the Turks view the
prospect of a resolution, now under consideration by Congress,
recognizing the genocide. Jewish officials have publicly expressed
concern that such a resolution could impact Israel’s strategic
relationship with Turkey, American interests in the Middle East,
and potentially the security of the Turkish Jewish community. The
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is
now conducting discussions on the matter. The ADL has been under
fire for weeks for its position and its refusal to endorse the
Congressional resolution. After reversing itself last week and calling
the massacres a genocide, ADL almost immediately issued a second
statement reiterating its opposition to the resolution and supporting
efforts by Turkey and Armenia to resolve this issue by themselves.