LOS ANGELES.–Meeting in Istanbul to find some common ground on trade and foreign affairs, 70-year-old Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and 66-year-old German Chancellor Olaf Scholz clashed over Israel. Erdogan, whose Ottoman Turk ancestors had sovereignty of the Holy Land for over 500 years, have no love for Israel, finding everything to complain about 74-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Erdogan readily joins the Hamas propaganda machine accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza and Lebanon, all to put pressure on the international community to force Israel into a ceasefire. Scholz, in a moment of historic clarity, told Erdogan at a press conference that Israel was not engaged in “genocide,” only conducting military operations with attending collateral damage. Scholz knows all about genocide with Germany’s own the Nazi Holocaust.
Erdogan and other Arab leaders with longstanding hatred toward Israel like accusing Netanyahu of “genocide,” much the same way Iran, periodically denies the Holocaust, hosting Holocaust deniers conferences in Tehran. It took Scholz’s predecessor, 70-year-old former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to rebuke 67-year-old former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for hosting a Holocaust deniers conference in Tehran Dec. 11, 2006. Merkel told Ahmandinejad Germany knows all about “genocide,” fully accepting and acknowledging the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews and others. Yet Erdogan continues the same Arab claptrap about Netanyahu’s genocide in Gaza. Netanyahu wants to end the conflict but wants Hamas to turn over the remaining 100 hostages, dead-or-alive, still kept deep inside Gaza’s labyrinth of military tunnels.
Scholz, who faces a tough reelection fight next year, told Erdogan that Israel had a right to defend itself against attacks from Iran’s many proxy terror groups. Erdogan his no sympathy for Israel, or, for that matter, for the 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Turks during the purges in Turkey before and during the Bolshevik Revolution [1916-1923]. Sultan Mehved 5 presided over the Armenian genocide in Turkey, something Erdogan, unlike Germany, denies to this day. Erdogan routinely threatens to break off diplomatic relations with the U.S. if Congress recognizes the Ottoman Turk’s Armenian genocide. So, it’s no wonder, Erdogan likes the play around with words, accusing Israel of the very genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks over the great purges in the early 20th century. Scholz stood his ground with Erdogan while he exposed his anti-Semitism.
Erdogan would like to rule the Holy Land again, backing Iran’s “axis of resistance” to destroy the Israeli state. “It’s clear that in Netanyahu’s mind, he doesn’t want to limit the war to just some definite fascist circle, but to expand it,” Erdogan said of Netanyahu. “The deaths of so many leaders is practically a point of delight for them. And the West is jumping for joy,” Erdogan said, showing, the bizarre conflict Erdogan express as part of the NATO alliance southern flank. Erdogan should support the Western Alliance but actually agrees with more radical states like Iran and Russia, when it comes to Islamic terrorism in the Mideast and Horn of Africa. “But I also want to say this: Germany does not believe . . . that the accusation of genocide is justified,” Scholz told Erdogan, speaking from historic experience knowing all about the WW II Nazi Holocaust.
Erdogan wants Scholz’s backing for Turkey receiving Eurofighter Typhoon jets, something Turkey could use for various war zones. During 63-year-old former President Barack Obama’s time in office, Erdogan backed the Syrian proxy war to oust Damascus-based Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Obama and his then Vice President Joe Biden, spent billions with Turkey to oust al-Assad, all foiled in 2015 when 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin got in the game to defend al-Assad. Obama and Biden still hold a grudge against Putin for defending al-Assad, but, more importantly, for Putin seizing Crimea March 1, 2014 after a bloodless pro-Western, CIA-backed coup, AKA the Maiden Revolution, toppled the Kremlin backed Kiev President Viktor Yanukovych. Today’s war in Ukraine directly relates to the Feb. 22, 2014 Maiden Revolution.
Scholz let Erdogan know that accusing Israel of genocide did not meet legal definitions, something Germany knows a lot about. When it comes to getting his Eurofighter Typhoon jets, Erdogan agreed to cooperate with Germany who’s in the process of deporting some 16,000 Turkish nationals. “Turkey is a member of NATO and therefore we always make decisions that involve concrete deliveries,” Scholz said, giving Erdogan some hope about eventually getting his Eurofighter jets. Scholz hopes his Social Democrat Party can continue to hold on to power because of Alternative for Gerrmany [AfD] Alice Weidel making a run for chancellor in 2025. German citizens have grown fatigued with Scholz support to the Ukraine War, seeing Germany as pushed around by the United States. Weidel agrees with 78-year-old former President Donald Trump that the Ukraine War must end.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
