Turkey blames Jewish diaspora for Gezi protests

A deputy of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the Jewish diaspora and foreign powers for setting off the unrest that has hit the country in the last month, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported on Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay was quoted by the paper as saying, "There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey’s growth. They are all uniting, on one side the Jewish diaspora. You saw the foreign media’s attitude during the Gezi Park incidents; they bought it and started broadcasting immediately, without doing an evaluation.”

The protests broke out in early June in Istanbul when police used force and tear gas to disperse environmental activists demonstrating.

The Turkish government says the protests are part of a plot against the country, involving foreign governments and financial institutions.