Senior minister calls Erdogan antisemite, regrets mending ties with Turkey

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan slammed Turkish President Erdogan, calling him "an antisemite."

By HAGAY HACOHEN
Updated: APRIL 2, 2018 13:39
The Mavi Marmara Incident
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, calling him ''an antisemite."
"The antisemite Erdogan continues to support Hamas [to] act in Jerusalem," said Erdan. Who also expressed regret about voting in favor of the 2016 rapprochement agreement between Israel and Turkey, which normalized relations between the two countries following the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident.
Speaking on Army Radio, Erdan said that "it's possible Israel should have acted against Turkey in the international arena and recognized the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire."
While Israel has a fair-sized Armenian community, which is very visible in Jerusalem, the Jewish state has not as of yet recognized the 1915-1917 massacres and deportations of Armenian-Ottoman citizens as a genocide. The issue is still taboo in modern Turkey despite growing recognition from leading historians and activists that these acts might very well be understood as a genocide. 
Citing pressures placed on him in 2016 by Prime Minister Netanyahu and the possibility that Turkish pressure on Hamas might lead to the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers currently being held by the terrorist group as a bargaining chip, Erdan rationalized his decision to vote in favor of the rapprochement agreement.
Israel, he said, "does not enjoy the luxury to refuse a compromise when dealing with one of the Middle Eastern powers, especially when [it involves] a low cost."
Israel agreed to offer monetary compensation to the families of Turkish citizens killed during the 2010 flotilla incident.  
Erdan further said that he believes Israel should ''present the values held by the Turks around the world, including recognition of the slaughter of the Armenians. We must stand up to the hostility and antisemitism of Erdogan. A strange thing is taking place here when a country like Turkey, which butchers the Kurds [and] occupies north Cyprus is accepted in the West as a legitimate state."
Erdan's comments follow a verbal exchange of fire Sunday, when Erdogan, in response to Friday's violence on the Gaza border, called Israel a “terrorist state and occupier,” and Netanyahu a “terrorist.”
Netanyahu issued a statement in response: “Anyone who occupies northern Cyprus, invades the Kurdish strip and slaughters citizens in Afrin, should not lecture us about values and ethics.”


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