US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday criticized Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan’s remarks likening Zionism to crimes against humanity, during his visit in Ankara.
Kerry, on his first trip to a Muslim nation since taking office, met Turkish leaders for talks meant to focus on Syria, Iran and bilateral issues.
In a speech at the Global Forum of UN Alliance of Civilizations meeting in Vienna last Wednesday, Erdogan declared: “Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become necessary to view Islamophobia as a crime against humanity.”
"We not only disagree with it (Erdogan’s comment), we found it objectionable," Kerry told journalists at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, saying he raised the issue "very directly" with him.
Kerry later met Erdogan himself, with a senior US State Department official saying that the Secretary of State "had a respectful but frank discussion of the (Prime Minister's) speech in Vienna, and how to move forward. The Secretary made U.S. concerns very clear."
Erdogan’s comments, condemned by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, clouded Kerry’s Ankara visit.
Kerry said Turkey and Israel were both key US allies and urged them to restore closer ties.
"Given the many challenges that the neighborhood faces, it is essential that both Turkey and Israel find a way to take steps to rekindle their historic cooperation," Kerry said.
"I think that's possible but obviously we have to get beyond the kind of rhetoric that we've just seen recently."
Ties between Israel and Turkey have been frosty since 2010, when Israeli marines killed nine Turks in fighting aboard a the Mavi Marmara ship of activists trying to breach Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
"If we must talk about hostile acts, then Israel's attitude and its brutal killing of nine of our civilian citizens in international waters may be called hostile," Davutoglu said at the press conference, adding Turkey had always stood against anti-Semitism.
"If Israel wants to hear positive statements from Turkey it needs to reconsider its attitude both towards us and towards the West Bank," he said.
Turkey has demanded a formal apology for the 2010 incident, compensation for victims and their families and for the Gaza blockade to be lifted. Israel has voiced "regret" and has offered to pay into what it called a "humanitarian fund" through which casualties and relatives could be compensated.