Premier Nihat Erim of Turkey said here yesterday that his country remains neutral in the Arab-Israeli conflict and because of that has become a target of Palestinian terrorists. Replying to questions after he addressed the National Press Club, Erim said, “We wish to see an end of this conflict by peaceful means in the light of the United Nations resolution (242). We are neutral. We will not intervene. We will do all we can to find a peaceful solution.”
In the course of his address, the Turkish leader, who was put into the Premiership last year following a military coup, disclosed that a “Palestinian organization is trying to feed subversives into Turkey” in an effort to overthrow his government, apparently because it is neutral in the Arab-Israeli dispute. “Young Turks, boys and girls, are being taken to Palestine, trained there and sent back to Turkey with dynamite to continue their terrorism in Turkey.”
Erim did not pinpoint the training sites in Palestine or identify the terrorist organization. He said the terrorist subversion was the work of “a very well organized group because Turkey by its position, is like a firewall.” In that connection he was alluding to Turkey’s northern neighbor, the Soviet Union, which he did not mention by name. “Imagine if Turkey had a Communist government,?” he asked the newsmen. “All the Mediterranean will fall under one power. What will happen to the Middle East? To the Mediterranean?”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
