Backlash against Turkish government official for supporting protest at Jewish hospital

Turkish Jews and rights groups have criticised a government official after he posted his support on social media for a protest taking place outside a Jewish hospital in Istanbul.

Ahmet Selim Koroglu, a senior adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a member of the Presidential Health and Food Policies Board, on Wednesday praised a group of doctors who started a vigil outside the Istanbul Balat Jewish Hospital wearing lab coats covered in blood in protest at Israel's bombardment of Gaza:

"The doctors who have gathered near Istanbul Balat Jewish Hospital started to keep watch for Gaza. The doctors will march silently with their bloody lab coats every Saturday," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

His comments provoked anger from many on social media including Turkish Jews, who pointed out that the hospital - founded in the 19th century after a decree by the then Sultan Abdulhamid II - had nothing to do with Israel or the conflict in Gaza and accused him of antisemitism.

The Turkish Human Rights Association said the protests were "targeting Turkey's Jewish citizens and Jewish community institutions who have nothing to do with the war" while Ivo Molinas, editor-in-chief of the Turkish Jewish news outlet Salom, asked whether you could call "the people in the hospital Zionists" too.

In a statement, the hospital criticised the demonstrations:

"We condemn the targeting of our hospital, one of the oldest health institutions in Turkey, which has been providing the most selfless and sensitive service to every patient who has entered its doors since 1898 when it was founded with the decree of Sultan Abdulhamid," they said.