A senior lawmaker from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has called for a nationwide ban on films about the Holocaust, saying such movies should not be shown while Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza, Turkish Minute reported.
Özlem Zengin, the AKP’s parliamentary group deputy chair, a controversial figure within her party for her occasional remarks on women’s rights and religion, made the comments during a parliamentary session on Thursday.
Zengin claimed that films about the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews during World War II by Nazi Germany, are being broadcast “morning, noon and night” on Turkish television and streaming platforms.
“I believe these films should be banned in Turkey until Israel’s genocide in Gaza ends,” Zengin said. “While genocide is being committed in Palestine, we turn on our TVs and constantly see Holocaust films. This should not continue.”
She added that more than 180 movies and 116 documentaries about the Holocaust have been produced, accusing the global media of hypocrisy for maintaining focus on Nazi crimes while remaining silent about Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“You commit genocide on the one hand, and on the other you insist on screening Holocaust films. This must stop,” she said.
Turkey has long acknowledged the Holocaust as a historical tragedy but, unlike some countries, does not have a law formally recognizing it. The country co-sponsored a 2005 United Nations resolution establishing January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day and became an observer in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2008. In recent years Turkish leaders have attended remembrance events or issued statements commemorating the victims.
Her comments came amid ongoing outrage in Turkey over Israel’s war in Gaza. Despite harsh anti-Israel rhetoric from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other senior officials, who have repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” and likened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to Nazi Germany, Ankara has faced criticism for allegedly maintaining trade ties with Israel despite a trade ban announced in May 2024.
Pro-Palestinian activists have also accused Turkey of hypocrisy for allowing the continued flow of Azerbaijani crude oil to Israel through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which runs from the southern port of Ceyhan. Last November, Zengin acknowledged in parliament that Turkey collects $1.27 per barrel of oil transported through the BTC, a route that supplies a significant portion of Israel’s crude.
The remarks have reignited debate over Turkey’s stance on the war, fueling accusations that the government is profiting from energy exports linked to Israel while condemning its military campaign.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,206 people in Israel and led to some 250 hostages being taken. According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israeli forces have since killed at least 67,000 Palestinians, including 20,000 children, and wounded more than 169,000.
Zengin’s comments came just days after the announcement of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, drawing swift backlash on social media, where users accused her of exploiting the memory of the Holocaust for political purposes.
Among those criticizing Zengin was lawyer Gizay Dulkadir, who wrote on X, “The extent of any rights struggle Ms. Zengin can lead is limited to this. Madam, you once defended strip-searches. Do you think we’ve forgotten?”
Zengin had previously drawn widespread condemnation in 2020 after denying allegations of strip-searches in Turkey’s prisons and detention centers, accusing an opposition lawmaker who raised the issue of “terrorizing” parliament.
“I have never believed in the existence of strip-searches in Turkey. There simply is no such thing,” Zengin said at the time, following a social media campaign in which numerous women and men shared accounts of being subjected to strip searches while in detention.
