Turkish Jews reject call to strip Erdoğan of AJC award

Turkey’s Hürriyet Daily News reports that the Turkish Jewish community wrote to the American Jewish Congress, asking it to reconsider its demand that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan return his Profile of Courage award, given by the Jewish group in 2004.

According to the paper, the community wrote to the AJC expressing its “deep resentment” at the AJC’s demand, saying, “We found this decision of yours very unfortunate just at the time that the Foreign Ministry harshly rejected the aggressive calls of opposition parties to return this award, saying the political criticisms of Israel must not [turn into] anti-Semitic statements at all.

“After all we believe that today amid the tragic losses we are witnessing in the Middle East, it is not appropriate at all to break down all the bridges but to try to amend instead the lack of confidence aroused between all the parties involved directly or indirectly in this crisis. We condemn hence your unacceptable demand and urge you to reevaluate your decision,” the letter from the Turkish Jews said.