Is Erdogan 'Anti-Zionist'?
Mustafa Akyol writes that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's comments on Zionism should be understood and analyzed in a Turkish, not just international, context.
Last week, during a visit to Vienna, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan initiated an international controversy by condemning “Zionism,” albeit in passing. "As is the case for Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism,” he said, “it is inevitable that Islamophobia be considered a crime against humanity.”
Soon objections came. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon found the comment “unfortunate” and “hurtful and divisive.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expectedly sharper, by defining Erdoğan's words as “a dark and mendacious statement, the likes of which we thought had passed from the world.”
The issue surfaced during the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to Turkey as well. Kerry, on his first trip to a Muslim country since taking office, found welcoming hosts in Ankara, but he noted that he found Erdoğan’s comments “objectionable.”
But why did Erdoğan create such a fuss? And what did he really mean?
