Istanbul – A Turkish Islamist newspaper has published an antisemitic report claiming that Jews living in Istanbul’s Beykoz district had trained dogs to bite Muslims.

Yeni Akit published a letter from a reader, İclal Yalçınlar, containing the antisemitic slur.

The letter said street dogs had taken control of a neighbourhood of Beykoz, and “Jews and masons” living in the area had been setting them on the Muslim inhabitants. More than 100 Muslims had been bitten by dogs, it said.

The letter also raised centuries-old blood libel claims that said Jews living in Spain had tortured Christian children by putting them in barrels full of nails.

The letter published by Yeni Akit drew revulsion from readers and politicians alike.

Mustafa Yeneroğlu, a deputy for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), called the story “the language of Nazis”, and warned that Muslims too faced similar allegations.

“It’s truly devastating to see Jews and Christians from time to time subjected to the same thing Muslims in Europe continually face. Muslims aren’t racist. Muslims don’t deal in hate or produce false news,” Yeneroğlu said in a tweet.