Israel Matzav

Turkey goes politically correct

In Turkey, they showed the Holocaust documentary Shoah in honor of World Holocaust Day last Friday. But don't get your hopes up that it means that Turkish anti-Semitism has changed at all, writes Burak Bekdil.

First, the TRT management selected Can Bonomo, a Turkish Jew, to represent Turkey at the (ridiculously) popular Eurovision Song Contest this year; then, it screened the iconic Holocaust documentary, “Shoah,” an epic production directed by Claude Lanzmann, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27).

It was the first time that “Shoah” had been broadcast by state television in a predominantly Muslim country. And, interestingly, the screening came only a few months after the release of a Turkish film, “Turkish passport,” which tells the true story of Turkish diplomats who saved thousands of Jews during World War II by issuing them Turkish passports.

Western observers concluded that the screening of “Shoah” was a key part of Turkey’s observance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day; that it was part of Turkey’s policy to separate its differences with the Israeli government from the Jewish people; that it was a shrewd diplomatic move by the government; and that Mr. Bonomo’s nomination aimed to curry favored with the Israeli lobby. We must admit that whatever the motives, TRT surprised everyone and won praise from anti-anti-Semitic Turks.

I am no longer an 11-year-old “TRT insider.” But I know Turkish politics enough to guess that “Shoah” cannot be a must-see documentary for any member of the Cabinet, its cherry-picked civil servants and a majority of Turks who do not hide their hatred for Israel/Zionism/Jewry. The surprise smells less like a “government overture” and more like a “correction from the government’s partners across the Atlantic.”

TRT was the same network that broadcast a blood libel against Israel 'based upon' Operation Cast Lead.

Read it all.

Labels: Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:33 PM