In Meeting With Turkish Minister, AJC Decries Official And Press Expressions Of Anti-Semitism

American Jewish Committee
Monday, 24 February 1997

Turkish State Minister Abdullah Gül was told frankly during his Washington visit of the deep disquiet among American Jews over anti-Semitic statements attributed to Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and anti-Semitic articles appearing in newspapers affiliated with the ruling Welfare Party. In a Feb. 21 meeting arranged by the American Jewish Committee at the Turkish Embassy, an eight-member delegation, including representatives of three other national Jewish organizations, told the Minister that the expressions of blatant anti-Semitism and denunciations of Israel and Zionism in the months since the Welfare Party came to power in Ankara gravely concern the American Jewish community, a traditional supporter of close bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States.

Troubling references cited by delegation members included statements attributed to Prime Minister Erbakan during his October 1996 visit to Libya, when he referred to the United States and Israel as supporters of terrorism; Erbakan's speech to an international Islamic conference, as reported in the Turkish newspaper Ates of December 14, 1996, in which he talked of a 3,000-year-old secret organization of Jews that controls the world; and Erbakan's reported comment, in the Turkish Hurriyet of July 25, 1996, that the Israeli flag's two blue stripes "symbolize the Euphrates River and ... the Nile River [as] the lower and upper borders of the Israeli state."

The delegation also cited Erbakan's Welfare Party campaign manifesto, which, according to a June 28, 1996, Reuters dispatch, vows to eliminate "world imperialism and Zionism as well as Israel and a handful of champagne-drinking collaborators in the holding companies that feed it"; and numerous anti-Semitic and anti-Israel articles in the Welfare Party-controlled newspaper Milli Gazete, including a December 21, 1996, report headlined "Spoil the Jew and See What Happens," that included the following tirade: "... When you treat [Jews] humanly, you have to expect them to act like an animal. And history is the witness of this fact. ... We can't expect from the Jews the things that are against their nature. Because a snake is assigned to market its poison, just in the same way a Jew is assigned to create mischief. Especially when we make agreements with and spoil them!"

Gül, chief foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Erbakan, was visiting Washington for bilateral political consultations and trade discussions. In the one-hour meeting with the AJC-led delegation, the Minister stressed Turkey's historical traditions during and since the Ottoman period of welcoming and protecting its Jewish community. He said Jews are equal citizens of modern Turkey, which he characterized as a free, open and tolerant society. And he cited Turkey's ongoing relationship with Israel, urging critics of the Muslim-oriented Welfare Party -- long antagonistic to close Turkish-Israeli ties -- to focus on positive aspects of Turkish foreign and domestic policies.

Questioned by the delegation about specific statements attributed to Erbakan and other officials and anti-Semitic articles in the Turkish press, Minister Gül reiterated Turkey's traditional stance toward minorities, dismissed the press statements as minor, and noted that his is a large country in which people express their opinions openly. The delegation replied that it expects the government of a friendly, democratic country, one with a Jewish community of long standing, to forswear and condemn defamatory statements against Jews or any minority group -- that hateful rhetoric poses real danger in any society.

"As long-time friends of Turkey who appreciate its strategic importance, its role in NATO and the great value of its relationship with Israel, we are alarmed by statements made by Turkish officials and articles appearing routinely in the Turkish press that resonate with anti-Semitism," Jason Isaacson, AJC's Director of Government and International Affairs, said after the meeting. "We placed those concerns before Minister Gül, and we will be looking to the government of Turkey for the appropriate response." The delegation meeting with Gül was led by AJC officer Stephen Kurzman and included Isaacson; AJC Board of Governors member Norman Gelman; AJC's European Affairs Director, Rabbi Andrew Baker, and International Affairs Assistant Director Barry Jacobs; Jess Hordes, Government and National Affairs Director of the Anti-Defamation League; Daniel Mariaschin, Director of B'nai B'rith's Center for Public Policy; and John Eubanks of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org