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Turkish deputy PM denies he linked Jewish Diaspora to Gezi protests

Türkiye Materials 3 July 2013 09:47 (UTC +04:00)
Turkish deputy PM denies he linked Jewish Diaspora to Gezi protests
Turkish deputy PM denies he linked Jewish Diaspora to Gezi protests

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay has categorically denied claims that he said the Jewish Diaspora is behind the Taksim protests.

Atalay's office said in a statement that his Monday's remarks were misquoted and taken out of the context, providing a different meaning. It added that the news media reported that as if Atalay said "the Jewish Diaspora is behind the Gezi Park events." "Deputy Prime Minister Mr Besir Atalay doesn't have such a remark or assessment," the statement underlined.

"There are those inside and outside the country who are envious about Turkey growing too much," Atalay, one of four deputy prime ministers, told reporters on Monday in comments broadcast on the Cihan news agency website.

"They are all uniting. On the one side you have the Jewish diaspora. You have seen the foreign media's attitude over the Gezi Park events, how quickly they bought into it and how quickly and widely they started broadcasting before any assesment was made," he said.

The Turkish Jewish Community, which represents most of Turkey's estimated 23,000 Jewish faithful, said Atalay's remarks could lead to reprisals against its members in a mostly Muslim country of 76 million.

The statement from the Atalay's office noted that the fact that the deputy prime minister didn't targeted Jewish people will be more clear when looked at the entire transcript of the speech, adding that the speech only suggested that the international media quickly jumped into the protests and made unfair reporting. "There is no sign, phrase or targeting against Jewish citizens in Turkey or Jewish people in other countries in the speech," Atalay added.

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