After Official Meeting, Turkish President Has Sidebar Talk

By COLlive reporter

Representatives of Jewish organizations in the United States participated in a meeting with the President of Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss warming relations with the Israeli government and antisemitism.

The meeting was held in the Turkish House in Manhattan on Monday and convened under the auspices of the Turkish embassy and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

In addition to Erdogan, present were Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Industry Minister Mustafa Varnak, former minister Omer Çelik, Turkish Ambassador to the United States Murat Mercan and others.

According to a report, Erdogan condemned antisemitism as a “crime against humanity” and said he planned to visit the holy land of Israel. Turkey and Israel last month announced that they planned to restore full diplomatic ties after years of strained relations.

“Erdogan is seeking to tighten ties with the West as Russia drags on its war against Ukraine,” the JTA reported. “He also wants to make sure Turkey is involved in energy exploration development in the eastern Mediterranean, which until now has been led by Israel and Greece.”

Among those in attendance were William Daroff of the Conference of Presidents, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), and Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jewish Community in Turkey and Chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States.

“As in other important relationships, the relationship between Israel, the international Jewish community and Turkey has seen some great highs and some setbacks,” Rabbi Shemtov told COLlive.com following the meeting.

“We’re now well out of the most recent setback, and hopefully we will build the relationship even stronger,” he said. “In this season of Rosh Hashanah of repair and renewal that’s a good point to ponder.”

Interestingly, following the meeting, Erdogan invited Rabbi Shemtov, who is based in Washington, DC, to a private meeting. The contents of that conversation were not readily available.