01/03/2013 17:35
Kerry to address Turkish PM 'offensive' Zionism remarks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to express his strong concerns Friday about the Turkish prime minister's remarks equating Zionism with crimes against humanity, a senior State Department official said to CNN.
"Obviously, we strongly disagree with that notion," the official said, calling the statement "offensive and wrong."
He was referring to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks Thursday at a forum in Vienna, Austria. This comes as the once-extensive cooperation between Turkey and Israel on trade and tourism, and military issues has broken down.
The remark "complicates our ability to do all the things we want to do together when we have such a profound disagreement about such an important thing," the official said. "I don't think that this particular comment has been made like this before. This was particularly offensive, frankly."
Erdogan appeared at the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations, which works to defuse tensions and promote cooperation between the Muslim and Western worlds.
"It is necessary that we must consider -- just like Zionism, or anti-Semitism, or fascism -- Islamophobia as a crime against humanity," the Turkish prime minister said.
Zionism is the Jewish national liberation movement that led to the founding and is the underpinning of the state of Israel .Erdogan's remarks drew a quick rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But many in the Muslim world harbor notions like Erdogan's about the movement.
"This is a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world," Netanyahu said.
The senior State Department official said Kerry will convey his concerns to Erdogan when they meet in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Friday.
The official, who briefed reporters on Kerry's plane en route to Ankara from Rome, said such comments have a "corrosive effect" on the U.S.-Turkish relationship and there have been "frank" discussions about previous similar comments.
Both Israel and Turkey are major U.S. allies in the Middle East.
Turkey, a NATO member, has been affected by one of the world's most volatile conflicts -- the Syrian civil war -- and has been a staunch opponent of Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime. Israel has been a longtime friend of the United States, and is seen as a pro-U.S. bulwark in the region.
The falling out between Turkey and Israel was hastened by the Israeli commando attack on a ship in a Gaza-bound flotilla three years ago. Turkey has called for an apology in the incident, which resulted in the deaths of eight Turks and one American of Turkish origin.