Chief Rabbi of Moscow said Turkish PM Erdogan’s criticism of Zionism amounted to anti-Semitism and recalled that Turkey has not recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Zionism a crime against humanity, arising harsh criticism worldwide.

Pinchas Goldschmidt, chief rabbi of Moscow and the head of the Conference of European Rabbis, said Erdogan’s statement “is an ignorant and hateful attack on the Jewish people.”

Goldschmidt compared him with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and, “Soviet leaders who used anti-Zionism as a euphemism for anti-Semitism,” Reuters reported. 

“The irony of these comments will not be lost on the families of those slaughtered during the Armenian genocide, a crime still not recognized by the Turkish government,” he added.

Erdogan’s remarks were also criticized by U.S. Secretary of State during his trip to Turkey.