Israel Accuses Turkish PM of Inciting Anti-Semitism

By Barak Ravid (26/10/2010)

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's humiliation of the Turkish ambassador earlier this month seriously offended Turkey, but also made it clear to Ankara that it had crossed red lines in its relationship with Israel, according to a report on Israel-Turkey relations prepared by the Foreign Ministry.

The seven-page report, which was submitted to the "septet" of key cabinet ministers a few days ago, also charged that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "indirectly incites and encourages" anti-Semitism.

The report was written by the Center for Political Research, which performs the ministry's in-house intelligence analysis, and has already been distributed to Israeli embassies and consulates abroad. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Ayalon, both of Yisrael Beiteinu, are the leaders of the government's aggressive anti-Turkey faction, while Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Industry Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, both of Labor, head the conciliatory, pro-Turkey faction. Regarding Ayalon's humiliation of the ambassador, the report said that while this seriously offended the Turks for many years to come, "at the same time, the manner in which senior Turkish officials, including Erdogan, ended the crisis may indicate that Turkey recognizes that it entered the red-line zone and [reached] the outer limits of the Israeli government's patience, and that this was liable to lead to it losing Israel, which would damage Turkey's international legitimacy."

But most of the report focuses on Erdogan, which it considers the main source of the current friction. "In our estimate, ever since his party took power, Erdogan has conducted an ongoing process of ... fashioning a negative view of Israel in Turkish public opinion," via endless talk of Palestinian suffering, repeatedly accusing Israel of war crimes and even "anti-Semitic expressions and incitement," it read.

Though in international forums Erdogan always stresses that anti-Semitism is "a crime against humanity," the report continued, in reality, he "indirectly incites and encourages" anti-Semitism in Turkey. "For Erdogan and some of those around him," it explained, "there is no distinction between 'Israeli' and 'Jewish,' and therefore, [their] anti-Israel fervor and criticism become anti-Jewish."

One result, the report said, is articles in the Turkish press questioning whether Turkish Jews are loyal to their country - something that could endanger Turkey's Jewish community.

In some cases, it added, Erdogan simply does not understand the anti-Semitic nature of his remarks - such as "Jews are good with money," which "he sees as a compliment."

Another way in which Erdogan encourages anti-Semitism is the backing he has given to radical Islamist newspapers, the report said. As an example, it cited the paper Vakit - which was originally also published in Germany, but was shut down there due to its anti-Semitic content. Vakit journalists, the report noted, are often invited to accompany Erdogan in his presidential plane on state visits overseas, and Turkish President Abdullah Gul called Vakit "the first paper he reads every morning."

Erdogan also "grants legitimacy" or "turns a blind eye" to anti-Israeli television programs "of an inflammatory, anti-Semitic nature," such as "Valley of the Wolves" - the series that prompted Ayalon's rebuke of the ambassador. The claim that this is just freedom of the press at work, the report said, is belied not only by the fact that such programs are approved by the Turkish censor, but by reports from Turkish journalists who say this freedom has been sharply curtailed in recent months: they say that "editorial policy is dictated by government bodies, journalists' phones and offices have been wiretapped, pressure has been applied to owners of mainstream media outlets, and there is tight supervision of Internet sites."

"For Erdogan, Israel-bashing is a way of bolstering his status with Islamic and Middle Eastern states, which Turkey would like to lead, and against the Turkish opposition, as well as with his own party's target audience and nationalist elements of the Turkish public," the report argued. Moreover, its cost is low.

The report rejected the Turkish claim that Erdogan is merely responding to Turkish public opinion, saying that in reality, Turkey's government is leading public opinion, not following it.

"Turkey today, under the leadership of the AKP [Erdogan's party], is different from the Turkey with which Israel forged a strategic relationship in the early 1990s," it concluded gloomily.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1145197.html

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Three Years After Dink Murder, Case Remains Unsolved

By Asbarez Staff on Jan 19th, 2010

ISTANBUL (Today’s Zaman)–Three years after Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was fatally shot outside his office by an ultranationalist teenager, the investigation into his murder has stalled as the suspected perpetrator and his immediate accomplices have been put on trial, but those who masterminded the plot to kill him still wait to be revealed.

While the anniversary of Dink’s murder is being commemorated today with a series of ceremonies in Turkey and abroad, Dink’s lawyers, domestic and international rights organizations and activists express their frustration that the murder investigation has not been progressing. There is a lengthy list of suspicious irregularities in the investigation, including deleted records and hidden files suggestive of an attempted police cover-up.

“Much of the evidence indicates that the murder could have been prevented,” said Deniz Tuna, one of the family lawyers. “We filed lawsuits indicating that security forces should have been tried for manslaughter because they caused Dink’s death from negligence, but they are continuing to be tried only for negligence,” she told Today’s Zaman.

Dink was editor-in-chief of the bilingual Agos daily until he was killed on Jan. 19, 2007. Lawyers representing the co-plaintiffs in the Dink trial have long alleged that the murder was the doing of Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with plotting to overthrow the government. In the latest hearing they also petitioned the 14th High Criminal Court to contact the prosecutors investigating Ergenekon to request a copy of the documents that describe the organization’s schemes against religious minorities in Turkey.

At the last hearing of the Dink trial in October of last year co-plaintiff lawyer Fethiye Cetin stated that Dink’s murder, along with that of an Italian priest in 2006 and the 2007 slaying of three Christians in Malatya, was part of an operation carried out by Ergenekon.

On Saturday, a group known as “The Friends of Hrant” called on people to participate in a demonstration to be held in front of the Agos daily headquarters today, the third anniversary of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s death.

Cetin also said that the acts of some Ergenekon suspects in turning Dink into a target for ultranationalists were very “open.” She recalled that when Dink was facing charges under Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 301, which then criminalized “insulting Turkishness,” some of the people who are in jail now as alleged Ergenekon members brought crowds of protestors and even attacked Dink and his supporters as they entered and left the courtroom.

Indeed, this is what co-plaintiff lawyers Cetin and Tuna point out in their “Third Year Report on Hrant Dink’s Murder,” referring to a devious plan called the Cage Operation Action Plan, which aimed to intimidate Turkey’s non-Muslims and assassinate prominent figures. The plan, revealed during the Ergenekon investigation, was allegedly designed by a group of members of the Naval Forces Command.

Lawyer Tuna said that all the indications point to Dink’s murder being part of a plan. “There is a willpower and a determination [outside of] the court, and this is what needs to be exposed,” she said.

Asked by Today’s Zaman who could expose it, she said, “the government.”

“The security personnel were informed beforehand about the assassination plot and did not take steps to stop it. They are being protected by certain authorities in an attempted cover-up. We are talking about the state’s security forces: the gendarmerie, police and intelligence agencies. Therefore, it is the government which is supposed to demonstrate the political will to make progress in Dink’s murder.”

She also explained that an inspection board under the Prime Ministry had started an investigation in response to a petition by Dink’s wife in April 2007. The investigation requested that some intelligence and security forces personnel in Trabzon be investigated, and the board approved this report at the end of 2008.

“We don’t know the result of the investigation in Trabzon. We requested to be joint attorneys in those cases but were not allowed,” Tuna said, adding that they were prevented from doing this under Law 4483, which relates to the judicial process for trying public officials.

“What we need is a government initiative to show the necessary will in order to solve the problems in Dink’s murder which relate to the bigger picture,” she said.

The report prepared by Tuna and Cetin concluded that it is impossible to shed light on Dink’s murder using the methods employed thus far.

“As it is impossible to believe that the murder is the work of three to five youths who have nationalistic feelings, it is also impossible to believe that an organized structure which has illegal powers of authority and influence within the intelligence units and the gendarmerie could have committed the murder by using those youths. From the General Staff to the judiciary, from government spokespeople to the security units, from the media to paramilitary forces, all legal and political actors have responsibility in Hrant Dink’s murder, by not preventing the murder and not exposing the real perpetrators.”

http://www.asbarez.com/2010/01/19/three-years-after-dink-murder-case-remains-unsolved/