Simon Wiesenthal Center Issues Travel Advisory to Turkey

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is issuing a travel advisory urging its 400,000 constituent families and the Jewish community to defer any non-essential travel to Turkey.

“For 500 years, Jews have found a safe haven in Turkey, but the unprecedented campaign of escalating rhetoric demonizing the people of Israel emanating from official circles and elementsof the media has created an unprecedented toxic environment which has spread fear among Turkish Jews and raises profound concerns for their safety and the safety of any Jew visiting thecountry," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Center.

"We will review our advisory in three months or when events warrant," Cooper concluded.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center previously issued travel warnings to France and Belgium in 2003 following a spate of anti-Jewish hate crimes and in 2009 to Dubai after an Israeli athlete wasbarred from a tennis tournament.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. Itis an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for newsupdates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.