We completely reject the accusations levelled against our President in the statement issued by the U.S. State Department today.
The addressee of the remarks of our President is not the Jewish people, but the Israeli Government, which has caused the deaths of many innocent Palestinians, most of whom were children, women and youngsters through its indiscriminate attacks against Palestine for many days. On the other hand, our President merely recalled the words of a former Prime Minister of Israel.
The Turkish society respects all religions and has a culture of peaceful coexistence of different faith groups. Anti-Semitism has never taken root in our society. Our territories have been also a homeland for many Jews who fled the Inquisition centuries ago and the Holocaust during the Second World War. Courageous Turkish diplomats helped rescue hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust. Our Jewish citizens have been living in this land for centuries in peace and tranquility, without any discrimination.
Turkey is among the main sponsors of the UN Human Rights Council resolution that identified anti-Semitism as an assault on human rights for the first time. It is also worth recalling that anti-Semitism was repeatedly referred to and condemned by our President as a crime against humanity.
On the other hand, the concept of anti-Semitism should not be exploited in order to exempt the current Israeli government from criticism, or provide it with impunity from systematic ethnic, religious and cultural cleansing policies as well as attacks against the Palestinian people by the current Israeli Administration in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It is revealing to see that the attempts to provide impunity to Israel has reached a very serious level, as the UN Security Council, which is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, was disabled on an important issue such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, due to the veto of a member state.
Obviously, it is no coincidence that the baseless accusations against our President and the attempts to provide impunity to Israel at the UN Security Council originate from the same source.
On the other hand, it is a serious contradiction that the US Administration, which has described the historically controversial events of the 1915, on which there is no concrete information, document or evidence, as “genocide” for political and populist reasons, is backing the Israeli assaults that are taking place before the eyes of the whole world. Our President has drawn attention to this contradiction as well.
The current policies of the US Administration are also in contradiction with the discourse it had used before coming to power, namely the importance of the rules-based world order and the supremacy of international law.
We call on the US Administration to endeavor to stop Israel’s attacks on the civilian population, instead of making unjust and unfounded accusations against our leaders. Lifting the veto in the UN Security Council would be an important first step in this area.
