WASHINGTON (JTA) — At least two Jewish groups are boycotting a meeting requested by Turkey’s ruling party.
Top lawmakers and administration officials affiliated with the AKP Party were in Washington Wednesday to meet with Obama administration officials and U.S. lawmakers. They added a meeting with Jewish organizational leaders, but at least two declined: the Anti-Defamation League and B’nai B’rith International.
Other groups invited, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the American Jewish Committee, did not return calls from JTA.
Jewish groups are furious with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who heads the AKP, for his recent broadsides against Israel. These have increased since May 31, when Israeli commandos raided a Turkish-flagged aid ship aimed at breaching Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine Turkish passengers, including one Turkish American, died in violence after the Israelis boarded the ship, and seven Israeli troops were injured.
In a speech last week, Erdogan likened the Star of David to a swastika. Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director, said he was also outraged that Turkey had withdrawn participation from a teachers’ conference in Israel on teaching the Holocaust.
“That’s it, this has nothing to do with the boat, foreign policy,” Foxman told JTA, speaking of the teachers’ conference. “If they cancel that, why should I go?”
Turkey’s government has traditionally relied on Jewish groups in Washington to help represent its interests.
One pending matter of concern is a resolution under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives that would recognize the Ottoman massacres of Armenians in 1915-1916 as a genocide, as most historians already do.
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“We must beat the grass, to startle the snakes”
Isreal might be painting themselves into a corner.They did over do it when they boarded that ship and the Turks are playing thier hand very well,to other Muslum countrys.I’ld bet a substantial amount of money that Isreal and Turkey patch things up quitly and quickly.
Heir Furher hard at work. Look at the demogogue like hand gestures. Straight out of the hand book of the Young Turks, Ottoman times, or even the Waffen SS.
Ottoman Empire = Nazi Germany = Republic of Turkey
Hello Fellow Armenians,
Lets sit back and watch this from afar-you have two of the most cunning peoples of the world having a fall-out- dont you think this is staged???Eg a prearranged fall out , kind of like two players in a poker game planning how they will bluff the other players in the game, in concert ,to achieve their goals-if they hate each other so much, why have’nt they cancelled their arms trading contracts…..Common sense please people—we are Armenians after all not suckers like the other imbecile nations!!!!!!!!!
You really think this is all a put on? The Turks thought they tested Isreals’ metal and won over the couch thing this spring.With an Isreali apoligy the Turks were embolded. Now it’s to late “in for a penny,in for a pound”.If we were really sneeky we could try to exploit the situation but I think they,Isreal and Turkey,will patch things up with Hillarys help of course
Hye, if Israel and Turks ‘make up’ and are allied, again,again, again… – they deserve each other!!
Manooshag
It’s Time to call out Turkey!!!! Not because they “defided The U.S.” but because they are hypocrites. They slaughter Armenians, Greeks and Kurds then accusess Israel of “knowing how to kill”. I think YOU know very well how to kill. Israel didn’t march millions into the Syrian desert then rape, murder and starve women and children. The U.S.and the world should recognize the Genocide and Israel should send an “aid Caravan” to the Kurdish people of Anatolia. Let’s see if they are allowed to enter southern Turkey without issues. They should be thrown’ out of NATO and let them go with their close friends Iran and Syria. We don’t need a friend like Turkey. Boycott Turkish goods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep making anti-Jewish and anti-Israel comments…
You are being monitored…
Many people know of “the Armenian problem” with Israel/Jews…