Turkey’s Gaza criticism at Holocaust Remembrance Day upsets Israel
by Daily Sabah with Reuters
ISTANBULJan 29, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah with Reuters
Jan 29, 2015 12:00 am
Israel on Wednesday reacted to Parliamentary Spokesperson Cemil Çiçek's criticism of policies of the Israeli administration, especially regarding Gaza, at Holocaust Remembrance Day held in Ankara.
Çiçek on Wednesday addressed members of Turkey's Jewish community at an international Holocaust Remembrance Day and mentioned the Israel-Palestine conflict as a reason for the increase in anti-Semitism.
Çiçek said: "As we remember the pain of the past, no one can ignore the latest attack on Gaza in which more than 2,000 innocent women and children were massacred. It is necessary to see the whole picture and be in search of a solution within the coherence."
Sayıng that each country should learn a lesson from the Holocaust, Çiçek contınued that each country should also show great care not to repeat this sort of human tragedy again.
Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told Reuters that Çiçek "unjustly and harshly criticized [Israel] at a moment that is absolutely inappropriate."
"Israel expresses its disappointment that a solemn event of an international nature dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims was misused in order to criticize Israeli policies," Nahshon said.
Reminding listeners of the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla, which was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza in international waters, in 2010 in which nine Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli soldiers, Çiçek said that it is impossible to bring peace to the Middle East unless the Israel-Palestine conflict is settled.
Designated by the U.N. General Assembly in 2005, the day commemorates victims of the Holocaust. In Turkey, the day is observed with a ceremony that has been held at the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul in recent years and was held at a private university in Istanbul last year for the first time.
In Turkey, apart from the mass slaughter of Jews, the Holocaust is known for the efforts of a Turkish diplomat, Selahattin Ülkümen, to save Jews from the clutches of the Nazi regime. Ülkümen, who was the Turkish consul-general on Rhodes in Greece, is credited with saving 42 Jewish families who were to be sent to concentration camps in Europe, by confronting the officer commanding the Nazi forces that were taking over the island and convincing him to release Jewish Turks on the island. Ülkümen issued Turkish passports to the Jews for their safe passage to Turkey.
Under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, Turkey and Israel downgraded their relations due to Turkey's reaction to Israel's aggressive policies on Palestine. Both countries seek to normalize relations, although they have set out a series of conditions for a thaw in ties.
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