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The Turkish Ruling Party Indoctrinates a Generation to Hate Israel

(Hurriyet Daily News-Turkey) Soner Cagaptay - The Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has promoted the Islamist mindset of "us Muslims" in conflict with "the bad others" through the media and also by spreading Hamas' views throughout Turkey. Recent changes in media ownership in Turkey under the AKP are closely related to the spread of anti-Western sentiments in the country, and media independence in Turkey is increasingly under threat. In December 2005 the AKP took over the Sabah-ATV conglomerate, which represents around 20% of the Turkish media market, selling this conglomerate to a media company of which Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak is the CEO. Turkey's publicly-funded TRT network recently broadcast "Ayrilik," a series with an anti-Israeli stance, including one episode which depicts an imagined situation in the Palestinian territories where a newborn baby is intentionally killed by Israeli soldiers. Younger Turks hate Israel because of images depicted in such shows that they have been seeing for the last seven years and what they'll continue seeing. In addition, in the last three years there have been seven Hamas conferences and fundraisers in Istanbul, organized by NGOs close to the AKP government. The meetings are held in city halls of Istanbul or convention centers under the control of the AKP city government. The writer directs the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2010-07-13 10:31:19
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