AJC Urges Turkish Government to Stop Spreading Conspiracy Theories Against Jews

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Jul 02, 2013, 11:28 ET

NEW YORK, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC warned today that continuing accusations by senior Turkish officials claiming that world Jewry is behind the protests against the government are totally baseless and nothing less than blatant calls to incitement. "Incendiary words can have tragic consequences," said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

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The latest government charge came from Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay, who accused foreign powers and Jews of encouraging the protests that began in Istanbul at the end of May.

"There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey's growth. They are all uniting, on one side the Jewish diaspora," said Atalay, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. "You saw the foreign media's attitude during the Gezi Park incidents. They bought it and started broadcasting immediately, without doing an evaluation of the [case]." Atalay also said the international media had a big role in "the conspiracy."

Last month, Prime Minister Erdogan blamed the protests on "the interest-rate lobby," a thinly-veiled term that in the past has been associated in the Turkish media with an alleged conspiracy of Jewish businessmen. Atalay's reference to "International media" carries similar sinister connotations of conspiracy theories about Jews.

"Let's be clear. Prime Minister Erdogan is responsible for setting this dangerous, indeed toxic, tone," said Harris. He urged Turkey's current political leadership and supportive media to "end the conspiracy peddling and bigotry mongering."

AJC sent a letter three weeks ago to Turkey's ambassador to the United States, expressing concern about Erdogan's "delusional prejudices" regarding Jews.

"Whatever protests and opposition Prime Minister Erdogan may face domestically, they are home grown," Harris wrote. "To blame such disturbances on external forces, and to resort to age-old Jewish conspiracy canards, is pure cowardice and runs the risk of incitement. [Prime Minister] Erdogan should be called to task by responsible world leaders for such crude tactics rather than his facing up to the reality that a significant segment of the Turkish public is challenging his increasingly authoritarian rule."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee