Turkish PM compares Netanyahu to French attackers

ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday accused his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu of committing "crimes against humanity" comparable to those of the terrorists behind the Paris attacks that left 17 dead.

Davutoglu´s comments risk enflaming a new row in the increasingly tense relationship after 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 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 said Netanyahu had staged "a miserable political show" by attending the 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.

Responding to the latest broadsides from Ankara, Netanyahu said he had still not heard international condemnation of "these intolerable comments".

"If the international community does not take a clearer position on the side of those fighting terror then the wave of attacks risks continuing," he said in Jerusalem according to his press office.

The row comes on top of a controversy in Turkey over the publication of cartoons in the local media showing the cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed from the first issue of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo since 12 people were killed at its offices in the attacks.

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."

Istanbul prosecutors subsequently announced an investigation into two commentators writing for daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Cetinkaya, who illustrated their columns on Wednesday with the controversial Mohammed cartoon.