BBC: Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been heavily criticised by the US, Israel and the UN for branding Zionism a "crime against humanity".
He told a UN forum this week: "As with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it is inevitable that Islamophobia be considered a crime against humanity."
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called the comments "dark and mendacious".
New US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to raise the issue when he meets Turkey's leaders on Friday.
He is in Ankara for talks on the crisis in Syria.
But his visit has been overshadowed by Mr Erdogan's comments, comparing Zionism with fascism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, at a meeting of the UN Alliance of Civilisations Forum in Vienna earlier this week.
His words drew strong condemnation from Mr Netanyahu's office, which called them "a dark and mendacious statement the likes of which we thought had passed from the world". » | Friday, March 01, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Reaktionen aus USA und Israel: Scharfe Kritik an Erdogans Zionismus-Entgleisung – Israel und die USA sind empört über die Äußerungen, auch Uno-Generalsekretär Ban Ki Moon stellt Türkeis Regierungschef an den Pranger: Ministerpräsident Erdogan bezeichnete den Zionismus als "Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit". » | als/Reuters/AFP | Freitag, 01. März 2013
