Kerry: Turkish PM’s comments complicate Mideast peace process - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/kerry-turkish-pm-s-comments-complicate-mideast-peace-process-1.506681
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says comments by the Turkish prime minister equating Zionism to a crime against humanity complicate the efforts to find peace in the Middle East.
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Kerry stressed the “urgent need to promote a spirit of tolerance, and that includes all of the public statements made by all leaders.”
Kerry said he had raised the comments “very directly” with Davutoglu and would do the same when he saw Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later on Friday.
Addressing the UN Alliance of Civilizations conference in Vienna this week, Erdogan complained of prejudices against Muslims. He said Islamophobia should be considered a crime against humanity “just like Zionism, like anti-Semitism and like fascism.”
Kerry said the on the U.S. side, “we not only disagree with it, we found it objectionable.”