Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared that his government ‘’will not succumb to the Jewish lobby, the Armenian lobby or the lobby of the Turkish-Greek minority.’’
Speaking during a congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) party in Istanbul, he declared : “I call out to the parallel lobby that sent them a message: We will stand before you with dignity no matter where you are; you will be despicable for the treason you have done to this nation.”
Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet reported that Davutoglu’s reference to the “parallel lobby” was said in regards to comments made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month in which he claimed that opposition Gülenists, followers of the US-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, in Turkey are cooperating with Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad.
Addressing a meeting of business leaders in Istanbul, Erdogan said “the sincere people backing this parallel structure should see this structure is cooperating with….Shame on them if they still cannot see that this structure is cooperating with the Mossad.’’
The climate for Turkey’s Jewish community has deteriorated dramatically in recent years.
Last summer, Erdogan compared Israel’s actions in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge to Nazi Germany, and even charged that Israel’s fight against Hamas terrorists in the coastal enclave had “surpassed what Hitler did.”