Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) expressed outrage at the statement made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a United Nations gathering last week at which he equated Zionism with racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and called it “a crime against humanity.”
“Mr. Erdoğan’s latest outburst against Israel is an insult not just to the Jewish state but to the entire Jewish people. Unfortunately, despite all the criticism of the past days, he has not had the decency to apologize,” Lauder said.
The failure of Erdogan to apologize for his controversial remarks led WJC Deputy Secretary General Maram Stern to cancel his planned participation in an event this week in Berlin on intercultural dialogue which is to be addressed by Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arinc.
Speaking last week at the fifth forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Vienna, Erdogan stated : « Just like Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it becomes unavoidable that Islamophobia must be regarded as a crime against humanity.”
Ronald S. Lauder said the Turkish leader seemed to re-fight the battles of the 1970s when the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that equated Zionism with racism. It was revoked in 1991.
“Prime Minister Erdogan is obviously trying to jockey for the position of supreme leader of the Islamic world. However, by using the language of hatred and emulating notorious hatemongers, such as Iranian President Ahmadinejad, he will in fact foster more, and not less, Islamophobia,” the WJC leader declared.
“Zionism is the legitimate aspiration of the Jewish people to live in its historic homeland, Israel. If the leaders of the Islamic world are serious in their desire to have peace in the Middle East, it is time that they accept Israel’s right to exist and stop this kind of incitement,” he said.
The WJC president thanked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle for issuing clear condemnations of Erdogan’s remarks, but he added: "We are still waiting to hear similar statements from the European Union and many other world leaders."
Over the weekend, leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations leaders, Richard Stone and Malcolm Hoenlein, welcomed Secretary of State John Kerry’s comments criticizing Erdogan’s comments.
At a press conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, Kerry said that the U.S. not only “disagreed with the comment but found it objectionable.”
The Conference leaders said that Erodgan’s statement «is the latest in a serious of outrageous statements and actions which only serve to raise tensions in the region and damage any hope of reconciliation between Israel and Turkey.»
In a statement condemning Erdogan’s declaration, B’nai B’rith International stressed that «Zionism is the embodiment of the millennia-old Jewish longing for self-determination and a return to the Jewish homeland.»
«This is not the first time Erdogan has made inciteful remarks about Israel or Jews. In November, he called Israel a “terrorist state,” during the Hamas-instigated fighting in Gaza, » the group said, calling on the Turkish Prime Minister to apologize.