Proudly anti-American and anti-Semitic ... Turkey - the "stalwart ally" of America and Israel !

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Jan 3, 2009 at 14:23

Turkey's anti-Semitic record is not much worse that its anti-American one. "Mein Kampf" has been for a long time a bestseller in Turkey. In 2003 a major synagogue was blown up in Istanbul. The Turkish-Jewish businessman Üzeyir Garih was stabbed to death on 25 August 2001 on a cemetery in Istanbul. His 14-year-old grandson Tal Herzikowitz was kidnapped by men in police uniform as a warning to Garih's family not to investigate the murder. ... Turkish 'Zeitgeist' looks quite familiar when you recall the German "Zeitgeist" of old , doesn't it?

In this context I'd like to hint at two very interesting articles on the subject. The first article "The betrayal of Turkish Jews" by Khatchig Mouradian

http://www.jewcy.com/cabal/turkish_jews

takes a glance behind the deceptive Turkish slogans of happy Jews of Turkey. "To better understand the plight of Turkish Jewry" he interviewed some leading scholars in the field.

He finds out that it was fear of Turkish terror and not free will that kept the Jews of Turkey far from politics. Small wonder therefore that Turkish Jews were as anti-Zionist as their Turkish effendis. So one must wonder why these anti-Zionist Turkish Jews fled so massively to Israel after the WWII ? Although Turkish Jews are loyal citizens, "Turkish political groups that fight bitterly on other issues find common ground in blaming Turkish Jews for the country's ills." "Today, Turkish Jews fear both Turkey's Islamists and its nationalists (...)" Out of fear "Jews in Turkey have increasingly adopted Muslim names to escape attention." Allegedly protected by International Community the Jewish community in Turkey is openly blackmailed by the Turkish government. " In an October interview with the Jerusalem Post, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said, "All of a sudden the perception in Turkey right now is that the Jewish people, or the Jewish organizations, let's say, and the Armenian diaspora, the Armenian lobbies, are now hand-in-hand trying to defame Turkey, and trying to condemn Turkey and the Turkish people." In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Zaman, Babacan said, "We have told them [the American-Jewish leaders] that we cannot explain it to the public in Turkey if a road accident happens. We have told them that we cannot keep the Jewish people out of this." "Turkish-Jews are very much upset by the great freedom with which the Turkish authorities allow anti-Semitic views to be voiced. (...) while Turkish authorities apply the Turkish Penal Code to prohibit other forms of hate speech, they make an exception for anti-Semitism."

There is one interesting comment by a Turk from America on the article about the common Turkish expression "korkak Yahudi" that sums up the Turkish popular perception of the Jew.

" Literally translated it means "cowardly Jew." I grew up with Turkish as my first language, and I learned that phrase early in life and used it all the time as I was growing up. Of course, I didn't even know its literal meaning. When I came to America and learned English, I simply used "frady cat" as the English version. Not until I grew up and learned that there are different religions did I realize its literal meaning. I actually remember asking my dad why are Yahudis cowardly, and I'll paraphrase his answer: that's the way Jews are viewed in Turkey, because they will never fight back. You can beat them all you want, they will not fight."

The second article with the provocative title : "Why are American Jews appeasing Turkish anti-Semites? " by Joey Kurtzman http://www.jewcy.com/cabal/back_future_court_jews_new_york_appeasing_antisemites_ankara

explores the same subject. He remarks that "Khatchig shows Turkish Jews to us as a harried minority whose "loyalty" has been extorted from them in exchange for physical safety." I'd call it a form of traditional jizya. Yet the author contends that "the article doesn't at all validate the concerns of those who claim we must appease Turkish antisemites in order to protect Turkish Jews." What is more, "although the leadership of our community has thrown its weight behind the world's most successful campaign of genocide denial, I doubt they've managed even to serve the short-term interests of Turkish Jewry. And you can bet they've considerably complicated the future of that community by demonstrating to Turkey that popular antisemitic hatred is a valuable political asset." "Turkish antisemites must have been gratified that American Jewish leaders—representatives of the most empowered, integrated Jewish population in the history of the diaspora—could be so easily managed like a gaggle of korkak Yahudiler, responding to threats of antisemitic violence with desperate smiles and obsequious supplications. As the Turkish ambassador to Israel helpfully explained, so far as the Turks are concerned, a Jew is a Jew ".

One judicious commentator remarks on all of that :

"It should be clear that Foxman (and Peres) said their ridiculous statements for political reasons alone. (...) They were said simply because Turkey is Israel's only regional ally (and a powerful one at that) and Turkey made it clear to Israel that it was important to them. I doubt that either Foxman or Peres were blackmailed into his statements because of concerns for Jews in Turkey. They were blackmailed by the threat that Turkey-Israel relationships would suffer. This whole incident does show, however, how deep Turkey and Israel's alliance runs when Turkey threatens our civilians there with physical harm to achieve a third-rate political objective."

Another commentator sums it up in Cassandra's voice :

" Meanwhile, back at the headquarters of Israel's 2nd favorite ally, the Turkish authorities were busy doing what they do best: generate hypocrisy of the highest magnitude. While Jewish leaders in Israel and the U.S. are busying themselves with Genocide denial to appease their Turkish "allies", their Turkish allies are busying themselves accusing Israel of "Judaising" the Temple Mount. Now, I for one, don't know if there is any merit to this report of "Turkish experts". But talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

All I can say is, the Israelis must have a fetish for getting donkey punched! In a twisted and battered-wife-syndrome type of way, I have to admire Turkey; it is a lot more powerful and guttsy than I ever thought. They just don't give a s.. over there what anyone says; everyone else plays by the rules of diplomacy, while Turkey plays by its own rules and always wins."

Hopefully, this sinister and deceptive game is soon over and the dupes will get smarter imposing their own rules on the perfidious Turk. They have still enough force to turn the table on him.

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