Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to meet with World Jewish Congress leader Ron Lauder in New York amid the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly for Climate Summit, which starts Sept. 22.

The English-language Turkish newspaper the Daily Sabah reported on the planned meeting and stated that Erdogan “has previously vowed to protect the rights of the Jewish community in Turkey and has asserted that the government will never let the Jewish people in Turkey get hurt.”

But this summer, during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, Erdogan had accused the Jewish state of committing “genocide” and waging “terrorism” against the Palestinians. Erdogan also said Israel’s “barbarism has surpassed even Hitler’s” and dismissed the possibility of normalizing relations with Israel. Under his leadership, Turkish newspapers have printed columns calling on Turkish Jews to a apologize for Israeli actions.

In July, Erdogan agreed to return the “Profile of Courage” award he had received from the American Jewish Congress in 2004 for working to help bring peace to the Middle East and his commitment to protect the Jewish community in Turkey.