Hans Rustad John Kerry irettesatte statsminister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for hans uttalelse om at sionisme er å ligne med fascisme og nazisme. – Vi er ikke bare uenige vi mener det er uakseptabelt, sa Kerry under en pressekonferanse i Ankara.
Det sved nok i tyrkisk æresfølelse å bli satt på plass på hjemmebane.
Mr Kerry said he found the remarks «objectionable».
«We not only disagree with it, but we find it objectionable,» he said, during a joint press conference with Ahmet Davutoglu, his Turkish counterpart. «I raised the speech with the foreign minister and I will raise it with the prime minister.»
A senior US official travelling with Mr Kerry’s party condemned the remark as “offensive” and said Turkish officials would be left in no doubt about Washington’s annoyance.
“This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against humanity … It does have a corrosive effect (on relations),” the official said. “I am sure the secretary will be very clear about how dismayed we were to hear it.”
“The Turkey-Israel relationship is frozen. We want to see a normalisation … not just for the sake of the two countries but for
the sake of the region and, frankly, for the symbolism,”
..
Mr Erdogan’s remark had earlier been denounced by the White House and by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who called it “a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world”.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, who was present during Mr Erdogan’s speech and heard it on simultaneous translation, said it breached the spirit of the Alliance of Civilisations, which was formed in 2005 — with Turkey as a co-sponsor – to promote east-west understanding and combat extremism.
“The Secretary-General believes it is unfortunate that such hurtful and divisive comments were uttered at a meeting being held under the theme of responsible leadership,” a statement from his office said.
“If the comment about Zionism was interpreted correctly, then it was not only wrong but contradicts the very principles on which the Alliance of Civilizations is based.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/9902255/Turkeys-Recep-Tayyip-Erdogan-under-fire-for-Zionism-remarks.html