The coronavirus is a Zionist plot spread by Jews to decrease the world population, some members of Turkey's press and public have said, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.MEMRI, which specializes in translating Middle Eastern media into English, has uncovered a number of incidences of Turks blaming the coronavirus epidemic on Jews and Zionism.In a video posted to Twitter on March 13 by IMChaber24, a minibus driver and his passengers can be heard engaging in antisemitic conspiracy theories. The driver claims that all outbreaks, from AIDS to Ebola, were created by pharmaceutical companies, before asking: "And to whom do the companies belong?"A passenger suggests "the rich," but the driver immediately counters with "the Jews."A fellow passenger then opines that the Jews "will do anything to end the lineage of the Turks," to which another adds: "Not only Turks, sister, they will do anything to bring the world to its knees."The driver then has the last word on the matter, saying: "Anyway the Jews are a cursed race."This attitude can also be found among Turkey's political class. On March 6, Fatih Erbakan, head of Refah Party and the son of former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, was reported to have said in a speech: "Though we do not have certain evidence, this virus serves Zionism's goals of decreasing the number of people and preventing it from increasing, and important research expresses this. Erbakan said: 'Zionism is a five-thousand-year-old bacteria that has caused the suffering of people.'"Erbakan is widely believed to have been current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's political mentor.The media too are not exempt from such opinions. On March 10, Abdurrahman Dilipak, a columnist for the daily Yeni Akit suggested that a possible Israeli vaccine for coronavirus was part of the plan: "Look how some people today have rolled up their sleeves to bring the Nazi dream to life. This is a fascist plan," he wrote."Once they have finished their work with the gays and lesbians, of whom they appear to take ownership, their plan for their 'removal' is ready on the table, and this is an ordinary and easy task for them. It's as if for them a woman is just a bionic robot doing its incubation duty on a human farm. But of course, they think that the population of the world must first be greatly decreased. The most cowardly example of this is the subversion and sterilization of the family! This is what they want to do. Maybe tomorrow they will present the vaccine for corona as a medicine, and they will add something sterilizing to it. And you know how the virus can spread on money, so that's good for Bitcoin."Meanwhile, in a video posted to YouTube on March 13, a Turkish medical doctor has claimed that 60% of Turkey's population is already infected with coronavirus, and that the government is refusing to provide test kits so that the true figure won't be uncovered.Turks have continued gathering at mosques to pray, believing the houses of worship to be immune from the virus."A virus cannot spread in Allah's house," one woman told Turkish journalist Seyhan Avşar on March 16.She continued: "Also, the Quran has healing verses, we recite them continually. As our president said: 'Cleanliness comes from faith'... Also, if the virus is going to spread in the place where I came to read the Quran, then let it spread."An older man said: "No one dies before their time. I would come to the mosque even if I knew I would die [because of it]."Their comments were made on the same day as Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs announced that prayers would not be held in mosques to limit the spread of the virus.
