Just two day after the Turkish President Erdogan's stunning outburst [4] that "the culprits are clear: French citizens undertook this massacre and Muslims were blamed for it," and blamed Mossad for masterminding it, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday accused his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu of committing "crimes against humanity" comparable to those of the Islamist gunmen behind the Paris attacks that left 17 dead.
As AFP reports, [5]
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's comments on Thursday risk enflaming a new row in the increasingly tense bilateral relationship after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted Netanyahu for "daring" to attend the weekend's anti-terror solidarity march in Paris after the attacks.
"Netanyahu has committed crimes against humanity the same as those terrorists who carried out the Paris massacre," he told reporters in Ankara in televised comments.
Davutoglu said Netanyahu's "crimes against humanity" included the deadly 2010 Israeli assault on a Turkish aid vessel and last year's onslaught on Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Davutoglu said Netanyahu was "the head of a government which massacred children playing in the beaches in Gaza and destroyed thousands of houses."
He said the Israeli premier's government "made almost natural the killing of Palestinians at every opportunity."
It had also "massacred our citizens by launching an operation against an aid ship in international waters."
This followed Netanyahu's sharp response to Erdogan's initial outburst...
Netanyahu had spat back Wednesday that Erdogan's "shameful remarks must be repudiated by the international community."
And Davutoglu came to his President's defense...
Davutoglu sniped that Netanyahu had looked "alone" at the Paris march against terrorism, where the Turkish and Israeli prime ministers had joined other world leaders in a show of solidarity.
A statement by the Turkish presidency Thursday said Netanyahu had staged "a miserable political show" by attending the Paris rally and had sought to exploit the event for "his own political purposes".
"The Israeli government should abandon its aggressive and racist policies, instead of attacking others under the pretext of anti-Semitism," presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in the statement.
But Davutoglu went further...seemingly assigning blame once again...
Davutoglu condemned the publication of cartoons of the Muslim prophet as an "open provocation", warning that Turkey would not tolerate insults against Mohammed.
"Freedom of the press does not mean freedom to insult," said Davutoglu. "We do not allow any insult to the prophet in this country," he added.
And the rhetoric is soaring...
The fraying ties has exasperated the United States, which is keen for key NATO member Turkey to have a close military relationship with Israel.
The Turkish president is known for his angry outbursts at the Jewish state, declaring in July that Israel had "surpassed Hitler in barbarism".
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As The FT confusingly explained:
"Although political leaders in Turkey have repeatedly condemned the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman, a parallel narrative has emerged in the country, with conspiracy theorists blaming the murders on foreign intelligence agencies rather than radical Islamists."
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