Armenian MP demands Turkey ministers answer for "death to Jews"video

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish MP of Armenian descent Garo Paylan has demanded an explanation from ministers after a woman was filmed apparently encouraging children in a summer camp troop to chant “death to Jews”, the Jewish Chronicle reports.

The video footage, which went viral on social media in Turkey last week, showed her prompting an audience of young girls by shouting the word yahudiye — Turkish for “to the Jew”.

The children are then shown raising their fists in response and shouting “death”.

The group — which is seated in a forest setting — is also prompted to shout “Palestine will be set free”.

The video has been viewed nearly 400,000 times since it first appeared on Twitter on July 31. Turkish media reports said no one has been charged in relation to its content.

Hate crimes became a criminal offence in Turkey after being added to the country’s penal code in 2014.

It is not clear where or when the footage was filmed, but the chants closely resemble a rallying cry routinely used by the Aczmendi, a Muslim fundamenalist cult based in eastern Turkey.

Members of the fringe sect believe Turkish troops should be use to “cleanse” Palestine of Jewish people.

The newspaper Cumhuriyet said the footage was a “scandal” while Paylan, a member of Turkey’s opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, said it was evidence of child abuse.

He said the children in the footage had clearly been exploited and were being encouraged to commit a hate crime.