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Turkey's Attitude to the Holocaust is Revealing

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  • Turkey's Attitude to the Holocaust is Revealing

    Arutz Sheva, Israel
    Jan 2 2013


    Op-Ed: Turkey's Attitude to the Holocaust is Revealing

    Published: Wednesday, January 01, 2014 11:29 PM
    Rifat N. Bali, expert on Turkish Jewry: " It is often repeated that
    the Jews who suffered from genocide themselves, are now subjecting the
    Palestinians to one."

    `The Turkish attitude toward the Holocaust differs from that of other
    countries on many points. The word `Holocaust' is not used in public
    discourse. Yet the Turkish media, politicians and civil elites
    frequently refer to the genocide of the Jews.

    `One major aspect concerns the Turkish Holocaust instrumentation and
    abuse in the international public debate on the Armenian genocide. The
    first accusations against Turkey claiming its responsibility for this
    mass murder during World War I started around 1965, fifty years after
    the massive deportation of Armenians in 1915. These accusations - made
    mainly by Armenian organizations in the Western world - have
    intensified.'

    Rifat N. Bali is an independent scholar and a Research Fellow of the
    Alberto Benveniste Center for Sephardic Studies and Culture in Paris.
    He is the author of numerous books and articles on the history of
    Turkish Jewry.

    `In Turkish Social Science literature, the Holocaust is called `Nazi
    genocide.' A major argument made by Turkey's leaders against the
    accusations of the country's responsibility for the Armenian genocide,
    is that Turkey's First World War actions against the Armenians were
    radically different from the systematic extermination of the Jews by
    Nazi Germany.

    `The Turkish Jewish community's leadership, the Israeli government and
    several Jewish American organizations claim that the Holocaust is
    unique. They have been backing Turkey on the Armenian genocide issue,
    but have come under attack in the Western world about this.

    `There is yet another issue concerning the Armenian genocide where
    Jews are being used as a Turkish defense argument. Jews with Turkish
    passports in Nazi-occupied countries were partly saved by some Turkish
    diplomats. Other officials, however, didn't care. Yad Vashem has only
    recognized one Turkish diplomat - Selahattin Ülkümen, Consul General
    on Rhodes during the war - as a Righteous Gentile.

    "The Turkish Foreign Ministry falsely claims that rescuing Jews was
    the country's policy rather than the result of actions by some
    individuals. By misrepresenting this issue, Turkey claims that a
    country with a `humanitarian attitude toward the Jews during such a
    horrible period,' could not have possibly committed the genocide of
    Armenians.

    `There are other widespread false Turkish statements concerning the
    Holocaust. It is often repeated that the Jews who suffered from
    genocide themselves, are now subjecting the Palestinians to one. The
    major conservative Islamist newspaper Zaman published an article on
    the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in
    1995, wherein the author wondered how persecuted Jews could act like
    Nazis in the Lebanese Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatilla. It was
    also conveniently forgotten that the murderers there were Lebanese
    Christians.

    `Then-Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit reacted to the Israeli
    Defense Forces' action in 2002 in the refugee camp of Jenin after a
    major Palestinian suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in Netanya. He
    said that `Israel is carrying out genocide before the world's eyes.'
    Approximately 55 Palestinians were killed in Jenin, mainly armed
    fighters.

    "In 2009, at the beginning of Israel's `Operation Cast Lead' action in
    Gaza, a writer in the conservative nationalist daily Bugün claimed
    that `after viewing the IDF's actions, the average person in the
    street is thinking that Hitler [i.e. mass murder against the Jews] was
    justified.'

    `When Holocaust-related movies were screened in Turkey, one could
    again find references to the `Palestinian genocide' in the media.
    These articles were not limited to Islamist papers.

    Ali Hakan, film critic of the mainstream Sabah daily, wrote about
    Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" saying: `Is there really that
    much difference between the Nazi commander who torments Jews in the
    [concentration camp] and kills them for pleasure, and the Israeli
    soldiers who crush the arm of a Palestinian boy with a stone?'

    `A number of books by Holocaust deniers have been published. Roger
    Garaudy's "The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics" was forbidden in
    France under the Gayssot Law, which outlaws questioning the existence
    of crimes against humanity. When Garaudy was convicted in France, the
    Islamist press in Turkey wrote that this was due to pressure by Israel
    and the Jewish lobby.

    During the 2006 Conference of Holocaust Deniers in Tehran, Zaman
    called some deniers such as Garaudy, David Irving, Paul Rassinier and
    Fred Leuchter `intellectuals.' Another Holocaust-denying author is
    Adnan Oktar, who often uses his pen name Harun Yahya. His book
    pretends to be scientific and scholarly with footnotes and
    bibliographies, using the work of Western Holocaust deniers. Oktar
    concluded that the Holocaust was invented. In recent years, Oktar has
    been hosting various Israelis, including senior religious figures, in
    Turkey.

    `In view of the above, it is not surprising that only Jews take part
    in International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies in Turkey. The
    press and officials show no interest. Similarly, only Jews attend the
    annual commemorative Film Festival of Holocaust-related films
    organized by the Jewish community since 2006. Turkish authorities do
    not involve themselves in countering Holocaust deniers either.'


    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/14324#.UsXHVJvxvIU

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