Israeli Spokesman to Turkey: “You Cannot Forget the Facts”
 |
|
A woman stands in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, during a ceremony entitled “Unto Every Person There is a Name,” marking Israel’s annual day of Holocaust remembrance, April 8, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
|
JERUSALEM – Minutes after I walked into the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry at about 10 a.m. today [April 8], the sirens sounded in remembrance of the 6 million Jewish souls who had brutally vanished by the end of World War II. Although there is no Holocaust denial in Turkey, there is a growing and deepening perception that Israel has become just like its Nazi perpetrators — cruel and merciless in the way it treats the Palestinians. From the Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AKP) members to the ordinary Ahmet, Mehmet, Leyla and Fatma on the street, Turks by and large consider Israel a “genocidal state.” While there may be room to educate the Turkish people on what the Holocaust really means for Israelis and the Jewish people, their current views of Israeli treatment of Palestinians makes this tragic chapter in history less important for their consideration. I have even heard from the Turkish diplomatic corps that Israel should overcome this traumatic experience in its societal psyche and stop thinking about everything from a security prism, which they see as the true cause of horrible mistakes Israel makes with its recent Gaza offensives. The more Palestinians get killed, the more support Israel loses from the Turkish public and international community, they say. To them, Israeli actions are the root of the debates challenging its legitimacy.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/israel-turkey-relations.html#ixzz2R0lJ8zQK
Categories: Al-Monitor