Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Israel for the removal of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi from office and claimed that he had evidence to prove it. Erdogan said at a 2011 meeting in France between the Israeli justice minister and an unnamed Jewish intellectual the latter had said that the Muslim Brotherhood would not be in power even if it won the elections. "Who is behind this? Israel is. We have evidence,'' Erdogan said.
Erdogan said the West was beginning to redefine democracy as a process that was not solely determined at the ballot box, although the poll represented “the people’s will.” The Turkish leader did not clarify what connection the unidentified intellectual had to the Israeli government or how his alleged opinion proved Israel played any part in the recent ouster of Morsi.
The White House reacted angrily to Erdogan's latest outburst. "We strongly condemn the statements that were made by Prime Minister Erdogan today. Suggesting that Israel is somehow responsible for recent events in Egypt is offensive, unsubstantiated, and wrong," Obama spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters during a briefing. US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf reiterated the comments and said the Turkish leader's comments were harmful to the diplomatic process.
In March, Israel attempted a rapprochement with Turkey after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned Erdogan to apologize for the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid that resulted in the deaths of eight Turks and one Turkish-American. Erdogan accepted the apology and both sides agreed to engage in further discussions. However, the talks have since stalled.
In recent months, several high-ranking Turkish officials lashed out against Israel and foreign Jews. In July, Erdogan deputy Beşir Atalay blamed the 'Jewish Diaspora' for protests across the country against the Turkish government. At the time, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder harshly criticized the remarks and said: “It is shocking to hear from a senior Turkish government minister such despicable and totally baseless slurs."
