Turkish PM: 'Take your award and shove it'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given a harsh response to the American Jewish Congress, or AJC, that asked him to return an award he received in 2004 after he remarked over Israel's atrocities in the Gaza Strip.

'If you support this Hitler-type persecution of Jews and the regime that massacred children, take your award and hit your head with it,' said Erdogan in his presidential rally in Van, in the East.

'What is the difference between what Israel has done in Gaza and what Hitler has done against Jews?' he asked. 'If it is not genocide, then what is it?'

Erdogan also said that whenever he has spoken of Israel's operations they have tried to shut him up and slander him, accusing him of supporting anti-Semitism. 'It is me who said anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity, but the West can not regard Islamaphobia as a crime of humanity,' the Prime Minister said.

The New York-based AJC requested PM Erdogan to return the 2004 award due to his rhetoric in the AJC's terms was called 'dangerous' against Israel.