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Just How Tolerant Are Turks?

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks about Zionism provide a catalyst for analyzing whether Turks are generally insensitive toward any kind of minority rights in Turkey, writes Semih Idiz.
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan chats with Head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate Mehmet Gormez (R) during the summit of religious leaders from Muslim countries and communities in Africa at the Ottoman-era Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul November 21, 2011. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR2UA6H

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a well-documented habit of using international forums to lecture from a moral high-ground and to blast at intolerance toward Muslims in the West with loaded, often controversial language. He's found an appreciative audience in Turkey and the Islamic world, given that prejudice and racism against Muslims, Turks and Arabs in the West is fact of life.

Erdogan has now dropped Turkey into another such controversy with his remarks during the UN’s recent “Alliance of Civilizations” conference in Vienna, where he likened “Islamophobia” to “Zionism” and called for it to be considered a “crime against humanity” like "anti-Semitism and fascism.”

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