'PM Treats The Gaza Conflict As An Issue Between Jews And Muslims'

With regard to the military attack launched by Israel two weeks ago on the Palestinian Gaza Strip which has left around 400 civilians dead, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lashed out at Western countries, the United Nations and also Muslim countries for not taking action.

Designating the attack a “systematic genocide," Erdoğan claimed that the conflict has not received much attention from Muslim countries because it does not involve a sectarian clash between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. The prime minister also attacked the UN, accusing it of having secret intentions and failing to promote peace in the world.

Hürriyet daily columnist Mehmet Y. Yılmaz addressed Prime Minister Erdoğan's criticism against Muslim countries in a Monday piece titled “This is not a Jewish-Muslim issue.” Yılmaz quoted Erdoğan as saying: “Muslim world, where are you? Is your heart not aching over what is happening? We keep asking why the West is silent. Put the West to one side! Will others be concerned if your own family [of Muslim nations] does not care?” Yılmaz pointed out that Erdoğan has not only made such statements on one occasion but rather keeps repeating them over and over. According to Yılmaz, Erdoğan doesn't clearly state what the aim should be of an Islamic alliance against Israel and he doesn't say how it would stop Israel. However, the main problem, the columnist says, is that Erdoğan is tackling the issue of Palestine as a religious one between Muslims and Jews.

Erdoğan also attributes the UN's inaction over the massacre in Palestine to religious reasons, Yılmaz said, citing the following recent remarks by Erdoğan: “The UN Security Council does not have the structure necessary to promote world peace because it does not have a single representative of the Muslim world as a member. This is meaningful.” Although Erdoğan claimed that his criticism targets solely the Israeli government, not the Jewish community, the fact that he places so much emphasis on Islam in his speeches on the matter and that he criticizes Israel using Islamic references provokes ignorant people, Yılmaz commented.

In his Monday column, the Habertürk daily's Umur Talu mentioned the fact that Erdoğan has likened the current stance of Western countries to an alliance of crusaders, with regard to their silence over the Gaza massacre. According to Talu, the First Crusade led to the killing of Muslims, Orthodox Christians and also Jewish people as it moved through Europe, especially in Germany, therefore this example doesn't fit. In addition, the First Crusade launched its attack on the Muslim world while it was based in the city of Antakya, Talu said, adding that this same city and its region is are now used by radical Islamist groups to kill other Muslims -- a reference to the fact that Turkey allegedly allows jihadists to cross its borders to join terrorist groups in Syria.

GÜNAY HİLAL AYGÜN (Cihan/Today's Zaman)