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A Brief Journey through Turkish Jewish History

Author: Published on: Published in: Diaspora

(Author: Bernard Katz, Vol. 67, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2012)

  • Feature image: Turkish Jews. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turkish_jews.jpg

 

The Jewish connection with Turkey dates to Biblical times. Abraham settled in Haran, where Terah died, on the way from Ur Kasdim before continuing his journey to Canaan.1 Haran is almost universally identified with Harran, in present-day Turkey.

In June 2010, a team of archaeologists from the Hebrew University discovered intact bee hives dating back to 900 BCE and concluded that these bees were imported to Israel from Turkey where the bees produced more honey and were less aggressive than the local variety.2

Jews have lived in Turkey since ancient times as evidenced by numerous references in the New Testament. Iconium (now Konya) and Ephesus are mentioned as having synagogues.3 Emperor Constantine (312–337) was responsible for relocating the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople (now Istanbul), which he named after himself. This eastern part of the Roman Empire became known as Byzantium.

In 1168 Benjamin of Tudela, a Spanish Jewish traveller visited Constantinople, then the largest city on the world. He wrote a book of his travels, described by Paul Johnson as “the most sensible, objective and reliable of all travel books written in the Middle Ages.”4 Benjamin of Tudela was particularly impressed by Constantinople, commenting, “…there is none like it in the world except Baghdad….Wealth like that of Constantinople is not to be found in the whole world.”5 At the time, some 2000 Jews were living in Constantinople. About their condition, he was less impressed:

No Jew there is permitted to ride horseback. The one exception is … the king’s physician, and through whom the Jews enjoy considerable alleviation of their oppression. For their condition is very low, and there is much hatred against them, which is fostered by the tanners, who throw out their dirty water in the streets before the doors of the Jewish houses and defile the Jews’ quarters. So the Greeks hate the Jews … and subject them to great oppression, and beat them in the streets, and in every way treat them with rigour. Yet the Jews are rich and good, kindly and charitable, and bear their lot with cheerfulness.6

The Osmanli dynasty, known to Europeans as the Ottomans, was established by Sultan Osman who began the Ottoman conquest of Asia Minor in 1299. Sultan Orhan (1326-60) added the greater part of Asia Minor and gained a foothold in Europe at Gallipoli. Murad I (1360-89) captured the eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula and Sultan Murad II (1421-1451) captured Salonika in 1430. The Ottomans kept making inroads into the Byzantine Empire until it ceased to exist in 1453 when Mehmet II (1451-1481) conquered Constantinople. Selim I (1512-20) doubled the size of the Ottoman Empire by defeating the Mamelukes in 1517 and adding Egypt, Palestine (which remained under Ottoman control for 400 years), Syria and the Arabian Peninsula. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-66), regarded as the greatest of the Ottoman sultans, the Ottoman Empire reached its greatest power and extent with conquests of Hungary, Tripolitania (Libya), Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Belgrade, Rhodes, Cyprus and Yemen.

Jews in the Ottoman Empire were well treated although subject to dhimmi (lit. ‘protected’, but designating discrimination against non-Muslims) regulations. Ottoman rule was tolerant and conditions for the Jews under them were significantly better than under the Christian Greek Byzantines. As a result, as the Ottomans conquered Byzantine cities, the Jewish communities welcomed and supported them. Bursa, where Jews had been living for over 500 years, and which became the Ottoman Empire’s first capital, was captured in 1326. Its Jewish community became the first Jewish community to come under Ottoman rule and this marks the beginning of a common Jewish Ottoman history. According to one tradition, the Jewish community actively helped the Ottomans capture the city. Another asserts that the city’s Jewish and Greek inhabitants fled as the Turks approached and that subsequent to its capture the Jews but not the Greeks were invited back.7

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 the city was devastated and needed to be revitalized. The Turks were good warriors and farmers but not administrators or businessmen. Sultan Mehmet II did not trust the native Greek population so the Jews became the logical solution to generate a commercial revival.8 Soon after the city’s capture, therefore, he ordered the Jews in the empire to relocate there. At the time the Jews resented this forced relocation and to pacify them Mehmet II, according to tradition, issued the following proclamation using phrases from the books of Genesis and Ezra:

Who among you of all my people that is with me, may his God be with him, let him ascend to Constantinople, the site of my royal throne. Let him dwell in the best of the land, each beneath his vine and beneath his fig tree, with silver and with gold, with wealth and with cattle. Let him dwell in the land, trade in it, and take possession of it.9

As a result of this proclamation many Jews came to Constantinople, which became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Whenever the sultan captured a town, he transferred its Jews to there. The Jews’ economic and religious situation improved greatly by comparison with their condition during the Byzantine era: “There came into being in Constantinople splendid communities; Torah, wealth and glory increased in the congregation.”10

The original Jews who lived in Turkey from Byzantine times are known as Romaniot – Greekspeaking Jews. Although some had been residents of Constantinople prior to the Ottoman conquest, most were settled there subsequently. Whilst they played an important role in the Jewish community during the early years of Ottoman rule their position of influence was gradually eroded by the influx of new Jewish communities.11

Rabbi Isaac Tzarfati moved to the Ottoman Empire from Europe and became the chief rabbi. He wrote a letter (dated by Heinrich Graetz to 1456)12 to the Jews of Germany, who at the time were subject to cruel persecution, encouraging them to settle in Turkey:

I Isaac Tzarfati…proclaim to you that Turkey is a land wherein nothing is lacking….Is it not better for you to live under Muslims than under Christians? Here every man may dwell at peace under his own vine and fig-tree…. Arise! And leave this accursed land for ever!13

This letter stimulated an influx of Ashkenazi Jews, who established communities in many Turkish towns.14 By 1478, Constantinople’s Jews numbered 10 000, comprising some 10% of the city’s population.15

In 1492, more than 160 000 Jews were expelled from Spain,16 and of these approximately 100 00017 ultimately settled in Turkey. Sultan Bayazid II (1481-1512) not only permitted these Jews to settle in the Ottoman Empire but according to Bernard Lewis they were “encouraged, assisted and sometimes compelled.”18 Bayazid II is reputed to have said about King Ferdinand of Spain “Can you call such a king wise and intelligent? He is impoverishing his country and enriching my kingdom.”19

The migration of Sephardi Jews did not stop after the Spanish and subsequent Portuguese expulsion. It continued into the 15th and 16th Centuries as Marranos left Spain and Portugal and settled in various countries before ultimately establishing themselves in Turkey, which proved to be the safest place to return to Judaism.20 Among the Sephardi Jews expelled from Portugal were Ephraim Caro and his young son Joseph Caro, who later settled in Safed and wrote the Shulchan Aruch.

The arrival of Sephardi Jews significantly changed the composition of the Jewish community. According to certain calculations, 40 000 Jews migrated to Constantinople and 20 000 to Salonika.21 Constantinople soon became the largest Jewish settlement in Europe. In time, it was rivalled and then outstripped by Salonika (now part of Greece) which became a predominantly Jewish city and remained so for four centuries.

The Jews were a heterogeneous community and the Romaniots, Ashkenazim and Sephardim kept separate congregations. The Sephardim even kept separate sub-communities, with congregations from different Iberian towns functioning separately. The Sephardi communities, writes Zimmels, exhibited two special features, viz. an inclination to domineer over others and to quarrel amongst themselves. The former characteristic led to the absorption of many non-Sephardi communities by the Sephardim, and the latter frequently led to secession from an existing congregation and the formation of a rival one.22

Sephardi immigrants made an important contribution from the mercantile perspective and international trade in the eastern Mediterranean was largely Jewish controlled. They also provided the Turks with armaments and gunpowder, which according to Graetz thereby supplied

Christendom’s arch enemy with the weapons that enabled them to inflict on the Christians “defeat after defeat” and “humiliation on humiliation.”23

Sephardi Jews were conversant with European politics and had knowledge of European languages. Turkey was the most powerful state in Europe and for the first time since Hasdai ibn Shaprut in 10th Century Cordoba, Jews played a prominent role in international politics.

No case was more striking than that of Don Joseph Nasi (1524-79), who became one of the most influential individuals in the Turkish Empire. His aunt and mother-in-law Dona Gracia Nasi (1510-69) was the most benevolent and adored Jewish woman of her day. They were Portuguese Marranos whose significant business interests were managed by Gracia Nasi after the death of her husband with Don Joseph’s assistance. Together, they built and expanded the House of Nasi into one of the richest merchant houses in Europe. After leaving Portugal, they were unable to find a secure place to practice their Judaism and eventually sought refuge in Turkey. It would be three centuries before another Jewish dynasty, the Rothschild’s, would make a similar impact on international affairs.

Perhaps Dona Gracia and Don Joseph’s most memorable legacy was in relation to Palestine. Dona Gracia provided substantial funding for learning and for the first time in centuries Palestine became a truly great centre of rabbinic learning.24 Don Joseph obtained a grant of the ruined city of Tiberius, which he rebuilt to be a place not only of refuge for persecuted Jews but as the kernel of a Jewish state.25 Cecil Roth observed, however, that although not a failure, the Tiberius experiment certainly did not live up to its enthusiastic hopes.26

The Ottoman Empire and its Jewish citizens both reached their high point during the reign of Suleiman (1520-1566). Although the situation for the Jews was generally favourable even under the relatively sympathetic sultans as Bayazid II, Suleiman, Selim I and Selim II, Jews were periodically reminded of their dhimmi status. But Jews were invariably grateful and thankful for their circumstances.27

By the close of the 16th Century, the 300 years of Turkish vitality began to show signs of deterioration and the shift in the historic trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic had a major negative consequence. The decline in the empire coincided with the decline of the golden age of the Jews in Turkey, who no longer produced representatives of outstanding quality. The deterioration of the Jews’ economic and political circumstances ultimately reflected in their communal and cultural life.28

The 1648 Chmielnicki pogroms in Eastern Europe unleashed messianic expectations. Gershom Scholem observed that in the mid-17th Century, the belief that the world was on the brink of great events was universally accepted.29 The period produced a number of aspirant messiahs, of whom Shabbetai Tzvi (1626-1676) was the most significant. Shabbetai Tzvi was born in Smyrna (now Izmir) in Turkey. He came under the influence of the kabbalah and exhibited signs of what today would probably be diagnosed as manic depressive. Amongst other acts, he proclaimed 18 June 1666 to be the Day of Redemption. He violated Jewish law, including pronouncing the name of God, but his undoing was his announcement that the Turkish sultan was about to be deposed. The sultan had him arrested and given the choice between the converting to Islam and death he chose conversion. The majority of rabbis were taken in by Tzvi. Later, when the charade was exposed, many insisted that they had been opposed to him, but as Scholem points out, the documents tell a different story.30 Some of Tzvi’s followers also converted to Islam but retained their Jewish identity in secret. Their descendants have survived to this day as a recognised group known as Donmeh and played a significant political and economic role in Turkey. The Donmeh are referred to by some as “Jewish Muslims” and follow certain Jewish practices such as lighting candles for Shabbat.31 Only in Istanbul does a remnant still survive. Estimates of their numbers vary between 20 000 and 50 000, such is the veil of secrecy that surrounds this group.32

Rabbi Berel Wein is of the view that this failed movement had long term tragic consequences for the Jewish people. He considers that “Shabbetai Tzvi was a factor in setting in motion those forces of history that introduced the onset of Reform Judaism, secularization, and assimilation of European Jewry.”33

The history of the Jews in Turkey in the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries is principally a chronicle of decline of influence and power exacerbated by increasing competition from the Greek and Armenian communities.

Until the Damascus Blood Libel in 1840, accusations of ritual murder were very rare in the Ottoman Empire, and where they did briefly appear the sources were blood libels in Christian countries.34 There are a number of instances where the sultan himself intervened to clamp down firmly and put a stop to the baseless allegations.35 In the 19th Century, Turkey introduced reforms which extended equal rights to non-Muslims, including to Jews. These reforms, which are known in Turkish history as Tanzimat, initiated in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries a period of Jewish cultural and economic revival.36 Over time, however, Turkey had been gradually losing much of the territories it had conquered. By the commencement of the 20th Century, it had become known as the “Sick Man of Europe.”

The diaries of Theodor Herzl contain a fascinating account of Herzl’s effort to meet with Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909) in order to promote the case for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Herzl’s first attempt to meet the sultan in 1896, a year before the First Zionist Conference, ended in failure. He was already in Constantinople in anticipation of the meeting when Nevlinski (his go between) “returned from Yildiz Kiosk with a long face and bad news” reporting “It’s all off! The great lord will not hear of it! ….The Sultan told me: if Mr Herzl is your friend … then advise him not to go a single step further in this matter. I cannot sell even a foot of land, for it does not belong to me but to my people. They have won this Empire and fertilized it with their blood….I can dispose no part of it. The Jews may spare their millions. When my Empire is divided, perhaps they will get Palestine for nothing. But only our corpse can be divided. I will never consent to vivisection.”37

Herzl recorded, “I was touched and moved by the truly lofty words of the Sultan, although for the time being they put an end to all my hopes.

There is a tragic beauty in this fatalism which foresees death and dismemberment, yet fights to the last breath, if only through passive resistance.”38

In 1901, Herzl returned to Constantinople and met with the sultan at his palace at Yildiz Kiosk. The remarkable conversation he had with him is recorded in his diary.39

Turkey could not, however, be persuaded to grant a national home to the Jews. Herzl’s efforts to persuade the German Kaiser to use his influence with the sultan also ended unsuccessfully, with Germany dropping this idea in the interests of pursuing an alliance with Turkey. So Herzl turned his attention to Britain, efforts that ultimately culminated in Britain issuing the November 1917 Balfour Declaration stating that the British government “viewed with favour the establishment of a Jewish Home” in Palestine.

In 1908, a group of army officers known as “Young Turks” overthrew Abdul Hamid II and restored the constitution which granted Jews equal rights. The story that the revolution was a “JewishMasonic plot” received wide circulation, but according to Bernard Lewis, there would seem to be “no evidence at all, in the voluminous Turkish literature on the Young Turks, that Jews played a part of any significance in their councils, either before or after the Revolution…”40

Turkey entered World War I in October 1914 as an ally of Germany. Now commenced a difficult time for the Jews of Palestine, who were harshly treated by the Turks. Max Raisin observes that “The Turkish government whose Jewish policy in times of peace had nearly always been liberal and conciliatory, now became despotic…”41 Several thousand Jews in Palestine were taken captive and forced to work as labourers for the Turkish war effort. More than 10 000 Jews fled Palestine to the security of British- controlled Egypt.42 Vladimir Jabotinsky established, under British command, a Jewish regiment comprising these refugees known as the Zion Mule Corps. This Corps fought in the campaign against Turkey at Gallipoli and their valour is attested to by Colonel Patterson in his book With the Zionists in Gallipoli.43 At the same time, 18 000 Jews served in the Ottoman army, of whom 1000 made the ultimate sacrifice.44 British forces under the command of General Allenby liberated Jerusalem from Turkish rule in December 1917.

During the war, Arab armies rebelled against Turkish rule. Their fight was led by Emir Feisal, son of Emir Hussein, Grand Sharif of Mecca and leader of the Arabs of Hejaz and Colonel T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia). Feisal was expecting to be given the throne of Syria and was supportive of the Zionist program. In 1921, he informed the British government that in return for the throne of Syria, he would “abandon all claims of his father to Palestine.”45 But the French would not give up control of Syria, which they had won from the defeated Ottoman Empire.46

Turkey was constituted as a republic in 1923. Its founder, Mustafa Kemal (better known as Ataturk), had been part of the Young Turk uprising and had distinguished himself as the commander in the successful Turkish defence of Gallipoli. Ataturk’s declared objective was to stamp out all signs of the religious–institutional influence of Islam and create a secular state. His assault on religion also impacted on the Jews and included a prohibition on teaching Hebrew in schools. In Ataturk’s Turkey Jews found communal institutions subject to “slow cultural strangulation”47 and there was a dramatic decline in interest in Judaism, exacerbated by the absence of a spiritual leader.48 After Ataturk’s death in 1938, many of these prohibitions were eased.49 Sachar’s view is that it is doubtful that Ataturk himself was antisemitic, but his regime’s militant nationalism would not spare any minority.50

Turkey remained neutral during World War II and was thus able to protect its Jews.51 According to Stanford Shaw, some 15000 Turkish Jews from France, and even 100 000 Jews from Eastern Europe were saved because of Turkish efforts.52

But Turkey’s record in World War II is not without blemish. In December 1941 the S.S. Struma, which had departed from Romania en route to Palestine, docked in Istanbul with its engine malfunctioning and hull leaking. Britain would not permit entry to Palestine and Turkey would not permit the passengers to disembark. Eventually, in February 1942, Turkey ordered the boat to leave. Five miles out at sea in the Bosphorus, the ship sank with its 767 passengers.

During World War II, a punitive property tax known as Varlik Vergisi was imposed on nonMuslims. Described as a “savagely vindictive” tax, it had a particularly harsh impact on Turkish Jewry, pauperizing fully a third of them.53 It was eventually abolished under pressure from the Allies in 1944.

Turkish Jewry in the Post-War Era

The population of Turkey today exceeds 70 million, of whom 13 million live in Istanbul. The Jewish population (of whom Sephardim make up 96%) is estimated at around 20 000, with 18 000 in Istanbul and about 1500 in Izmir.54 Turkish Jewry today tends to be a fractionally more affluent group than their predecessors and, except for perhaps a thousand professionals, are businessmen.55 The community is an aging one and numbers have steadily declined from a peak of over 100 000 in the early 20th Century.56 Sachar claims that the Varlik Vergisi was as decisive a factor as Zionist idealism for the initial mass exodus of Jews to Israel after 1949.57 In 1956, an outburst of violence provoked by the Cyprus crisis led to attacks on Greek shops and homes which then spilled over to the Armenian quarter and finally to the Jewish commercial and residential neighbourhoods. This incident caused a further Jewish emigration.

The 1915 Armenian genocide remains a highly emotive issue and still provokes considerable debate. Turkey denies the notion of genocide, invoking arguments of Turkish self-defence and of extensive killings on both sides.58 Sachar adds that these claims are “imaginatively buttressed” by a number of eminent Jewish scholars, including Bernard Lewis of Princeton and Stanford Shaw of UCLA (who issued a statement objecting to the use of the term ‘genocide’ and asserting that the 1915 tragedy was the “inevitable consequence” of wartime conditions).59 According to Sachar, Jewish members of the Holocaust Commission had assured their Armenian colleague that the Armenian tragedy would be ‘substantially’ integrated into the exhibits of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, but that pledge failed to materialise. At an ‘educational’ briefing in 1983, the Turkish ambassador in Washington reputedly threatened Holocaust Commission staff that “If the Armenians are so much as mentioned in your Holocaust Museum, it will go badly for the Jews in Turkey.”60

In the early 19th Century nearly 40 active synagogues served the more than 60,000 Jewish residents of Istanbul.61 Today some 10 synagogues hold daily services.62 A weekly Jewish newspaper, Shalom, is published in Istanbul and one page is reserved for Ladino and every month a supplement in Ladino is also published. These days, Turkish Jews speak Turkish as their native language but for those in the over 80 year generation many are more comfortable in Ladino or French.63

The Ahrida Synagogue in Balat is Istanbul’s oldest synagogue and possibly it’s most outstanding. Built in the 15th Century prior to the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul, it was named after the Macedonian city from where its initial congregants originated. Its most noteworthy feature is its bimah – designed in the shape of a ship. Some historians say this represents Noah’s Ark while others claim it is the ships bringing the Spanish Jews to Turkey.64 Still others are of the view that the possibility of the bimah being added to the synagogue during the restorations of 1694 (after it was destroyed by fire) makes both theories accurate.65 Shabbetai Tzvi preached in this synagogue.

The Neve Shalom Synagogue in Galata unfortunately became well known due to the tragedy in 1986 when Palestinian terrorists entered the synagogue and opened fire on the worshippers, killing 21.66 The bullet marks on the Aron Kodesh have been retained as a memory. Under the seats, hard hats can be found in case of another incident.

The Etz Haim Synagogue in Ortakoy is in an impressive complex up the Bosphorus and next to it can be found a church and a mosque.

The Jewish Museum was opened as one of the festivities commemorating 500 years since the Sephardi immigration. One custom on display that is unfamiliar to Ashkenazi Jews is the Fashadura. At a gathering the sheet on which the new born was conceived is cut into a dress for the new born and symbolizes the wish for its long life.

Istanbul’s Archaeological Museum’s collection on Syria and Palestine contains a treasure trove of Jewish interest collected during Turkey’s occupation of Palestine.

The Siloam Inscription is a passage of inscribed text found in a tunnel cut by King Hezekiah in the 8th Century BCE. Hezekiah’s preparations for a siege of Jerusalem by Assyria included cutting a 533 meter long tunnel through the rock linking the Gihon Spring (located outside the walls of Jerusalem) to the Siloam Pool (located within the then city walls of Jerusalem). When the two teams, tunnelling from each end met, they celebrated their achievement by carving an inscription in the rock.

The inscription was discovered in 1880 by Jacob Eliahu, a 16 year-old son of Jewish converts to Christianity. He was fascinated with the biblical story of Kings II: 20.20, which motivated him to swim the length of the tunnel. A Greek trader heard about the find and roughly cut out the inscription, breaking it. He was arrested by the Ottoman police, who confiscated the inscription and sent it to Istanbul.67

The Gezer Calendar dates to the 10th century BCE and is one of the oldest Hebrew inscriptions, poetically describes the names of the months and the harvest periods.

Between1885-1910 a large number of excavations were carried out in Palestine, including Gezer and Megiddo and many items from those digs are on display.

Topkapi Palace contained the royal harem. Ester Kyra was a Jewish broker who sold jewels, cosmetics and clothes to the ladies of the harem and won the favour of Sultan Murad III’s mother and preferred concubine. She exercised considerable influence and was involved in political affairs. Her power and wealth spawned jealousy and she was murdered. Many gems in Topkapi palace must have been cut by Jews since they were the gem cutters in the sultan’s day.

The Hagia Sophia is supposedly among the world’s greatest architectural achievements and is more than 1400 years old. It was built by Emperor Justinian and inaugurated in 537 during Byzantine times as a church. After the church building was completed Justinian was reputed to have bragged “Solomon, I have surpassed you.” Benjamin of Tudela refers to the Hagia Sophia in his travelogue.68 After the Ottoman conquest, the Hagia Sophia became a mosque and is now a museum. The architectural design is said to have served as the inspiration for many mosques and even for synagogues including that of Florence, San Francisco’s Temple Emanuel69 and the Great Park Synagogue in Johannesburg.

Turkey and the State of Israel

Although Turkey voted against the 1947 United Nations resolution to establish a Jewish state, it became, in 1949, the first Muslim state to recognise Israel. A new era in Turkish-Israeli relations began after the 1991 Madrid peace conference, which led to the upgrading of the diplomatic relationship to a full ambassadorial status. The 1993 Oslo Declaration of Principles further improved the relationship. It was followed by military and economic agreements between the two countries and a significant volume of Israeli tourism to Turkey. By the end of the 1990s, Turkish public sympathy towards Israel had reached its peak.70 For Israel, the intimacy of its relationship with Turkey ranked second only to its relations with America.71

In November 2002 the AKP [Justice and Development Party], an Islamist party under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was elected to office and Kemalist rule came to an end. One of the first indications of Turkey’s new foreign policy was its rejection of an American request in 2003 to use Turkish territory for opening a northern front against Iraq. Not long afterwards, Erdogan began describing Israeli policy towards the Palestinians as “state terrorism.”72

In September 2007, Israeli aircraft attacked Syria (rumoured to be its nuclear facility) and on their return were accused by Turkey of violating its airspace. Notwithstanding all this, at the time and continuing into 2008, Turkey was mediating between Israel and Syria and progress in these negotiations was taking place.

The December 2008 Israeli attack on Gaza Operation Cast Lead – was criticized by Turkey, bringing about an immediate collapse in the Syrian-Israeli initiative and resulting in a major deterioration in the Turkish-Israeli friendship. At Davos in January 2009, Erdogan walked off the stage he was sharing with President Shimon Peres, accusing Israel of committing infanticide in Gaza. This “one-minute incident,” as it is called in Turkey, resulted in a further downward spiral in the deteriorating relationship.

In June 2010 the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship sailing from a Turkish port, attempted to break the Gaza blockade. Israeli soldiers bordered the ship and in the ensuing clash nine Turkish citizens were killed. A United Nations report held that the Israeli blockade of Gaza was legal in view of missile attacks launched on Israel from Gaza and the report further held that on boarding the Mavi Marmara Israeli troops “faced significant, organised and violent resistance…requiring them to use force for their own protection.” The report did, however, urge Israel to express regret and pay compensation calling the manner of the boarding “excessive and unreasonable” and the loss of life, including some people shot at close range, “unacceptable.” Israel refused to apologise despite some opinion within Israel being in favour of an apology, most notably Defence Minister Ehud Barak who advocated expressing regret “for problems that occurred during the Marmara operation.”73 Turkey retaliated by expelling Israel’s ambassador and suspending military ties.

Traditionally, Turkey has pursued a low profile in the Middle East but more recently is becoming a more influential participant. Soon after Erdogan came to power a marked improvement took place in Turkey’s relations with Syria and Iran (although the Syrian relationship has subsequently imploded with Turkey calling for Assad’s resignation). In August 2008, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a state visit to Turkey and Turkey has refused to participate in sanctions against Iran aimed at preventing it from acquiring nuclear capability.74 In September 2011, Erdogan toured many of the Arab countries where uprisings have taken place promoting the Turkish democratic model and enhancing his popularity, profile and influence. He has declared democratisation a foreign policy objective and stressed the need for Muslim countries “to put their houses in order.”75 It is the first time in the history of the Turkish republic that Turkey has attempted to position itself as a “model” for other Muslim countries.76

Under Kemalist government relations with its Muslim neighbours was seen as a burden on Turkey’s quest to part of the West, both politically and culturally. Now the AKP views improving relations with its Muslim neighbours as important.77 Some commentators believe the AKP leadership harbours a genuine dislike of Israel and Jews. In October 2009 Erdogan, speaking at Istanbul University made some antisemitic remarks.78

Relations between Turkey and Israel have reached an all-time low and most commentators are pessimistic about the possibility of a short to medium term improvement. While some Israelis are unconcerned about the deterioration others such as Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa who previously held a diplomatic post in Turkey, argues that for Israel to lose Turkey’s friendship could have devastating regional consequences for Israel and even America.79

Jews have lived in the area now known as Turkey since antiquity and the common Jewish Turkish history goes back almost 700 years. Turkey welcomed and gave refuge to Sephardi Jews who in turn contributed significantly to the country. On the whole the Turks have treated the Jews sympathetically, especially when compared to their treatment in Europe and in Arab countries. Hopefully, in time the rift between Turkey and Israel will be healed and the cordial relations of previous years restored.

 

Bernard Katz, a frequent contributor to Jewish Affairs, is a chartered accountant in Johannesburg. His previous articles have focused on the Jewish communities of Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Russia and Prague.

 

Notes

    1. Genesis 11: 31-32
    2. Siegel-Itzkovich, Judy, Biblical Buzz, Jerusalem Post, 24 June 2010
    3. Acts 14:1 and 18:19
    4. Johnson, Paul, A History of the Jews, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987, p169
    5. Tudela, Benjamin, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, Travels in the Middle Ages, Joseph Simon /Pangloss Press, Third Printing, 1993, pp70-72
    6. Tudela, op cit, p7
    7. Gilbert, Martin, In Ishmael’s House, A History of Jews in Muslim Lands, Yale Univ. Press, 2010, p75
    8. Encyclopaedia Judaica (hereafter ‘EJ’), 1972, 16:1532, quoting M Lattes, Likkutim de-Vei Eliyahu.
    9. Ibid
    10. Ibid
    11. Karmi, Ilan, Jewish Sites of Istanbul, A Guide Book, The Isis Press, First Edition, 1992, p24
    12. Graetz, Heinrich, History of the Jews, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1946, Vol. IV, p272
    13. Kobler, Franz, A Treasury of Jewish Letters, Jewish Publication Society of America, Second Edition, 1953, pp283-5
    14. Zimmels, H.J., Ashkenazim and Sephardim: Their Relations, Differences and Problems as Reflected in the Rabbinical Responsa, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1976, p41
    15. Gilbert, op cit, p79
    16. Gilbert, Martin, Letters to Auntie Fori, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002, p132
    17. Dubnov, Simon, History of the Jews, From the Later Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Volume III, Translated by Moshe Spiegel, A.S. Barnes and Co. Inc., 1968, p472
    18. Lewis, Bernard, The Jews of Islam, Princeton University Press, 1984, p138
    19. EJ 16:1533
    20. Zimmels, op cit, p39
    21. Dubnov, op cit, p472
    22. Zimmels, op cit, p43
    23. Graetz, op cit, p401
    24. Roth, Cecil, The House of Nasi, The Duke of Naxos, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1948, pp 97, 100
    25. Ibid, p110
    26. Ibid, p133
    27. Sachar, H., Farewell Espana, The World of the Sephardim Remembered, Vintage Books,1994, p91
    28. Ibid, p94
    29. Johnson, op cit, p267
    30. Ibid, p269
    31. Funke, P, Istanbul, The Jewish Traveller, Edited by Allan M. Tigay, Jason Aronson Inc.,1994, p226
    32. Karmi.  Op cit, p30
    33. Wein, Rabbi Berel, Triumph of Survival, The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990, Shaar Press, 1997, p27
    34. EJ 16: 1543
    35. Guleryuz, Naim Avigdor, The Turkish Jews, 700 Years of Togetherness, Gozlem, 2009, p23-24
    36. Karmi, op cit, p7
    37. Herzl, Theodor, The Diaries of Theodor Herzl, Edited and translated by Marvin Lowenthal, Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1958, p152
    38. Ibid
    39. Ibid, pp338-9. After the meeting Herzl recorded his impressions: “The Sultan impressed me as a weak, craven, but thoroughly good-natured man. I believe him to be neither clever nor cruel, but a profoundly unhappy prisoner in whose name a thieving, infamous, scoundrelly camarilla perpetuate the vilest abominations….The indecent clutching for hand-outs, which begins at the palace gate and ends only at the foot of the throne, is probably far from the worst of it. Everything is done for what there is in it, and every official or functionary is a swindler.”
    40. Lewis, Bernard, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, Oxford University Press, Reprinted 1965, p 207
    41. Raisin, Max, Popular History of the Jews, Translated by Rabbi A.B. Rhine, Hebrew Publishing Company, Revised Edition, 1949, Volume 6, p428
    42. Gilbert, op cit, p144
    43. Raisin, op cit, p430
    44. Gilbert, op cit, pp145 – 146
    45. Ibid, p148, quoting letter of 17 January 1921, T.E. Lawrence (Arab Affairs Adviser) to Winston S. Churchill (Colonial Secretary): Churchill papers
    46. Ibid, p155
    47. Sachar, H, The Course of Modern Jewish History, New Revised Edition, Vintage Books, 1990, p644 referred to as “The Course of Modern Jewish History”
    48. EJ 15: 1460
    49. EJ15 1457
    50. Sachar, op cit, p103
    51. The Course of Modern Jewish History, op cit,, p644
    52. Shaw, Stanford, Turkey and the Jews of Europe during World War II, http://www.sefarad.org/publication/lm/043/6.html
    53. Sachar, op cit, pp105-106
    54. Guleryuz, op cit, p33
    55. Ibid
    56. Sachar, op cit, p116
    57. Ibid
    58. Ibid, p110
    59. Ibid, p109
    60. Sachar, op cit, p110
    61. Karmi, op cit, p7
    62. Ibid, p11
    63. Guleryuz, op cit, p33
    64. Funke, op cit, p225
    65. Magriso, Sami, http://www.jewishtoursistanbul.com/ index.html
    66. Karmi, op cit, p70
    67. Montefiore, Simon Sebag, Jerusalem, The Biography, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011, p37
    68. Tudela, op cit, p70
    69. Funke, op cit, p224; Rose Norwich, ‘Early Synagogues in Johannesburg and the Men Who Built Them’, Jewish Affairs, Pesach 2003
    70. Liel, Alon, Israeli-Turkish Relations under Strain, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs IV: 1 (2010), p23
    71. Inbar, Efraim, ‘Israel-Turkish Tensions and Beyond’, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs IV: 1 (2010)
    72. Liel, op cit, p24
    73. Financial Times 3/4 September 2011
    74. Inbar, op cit, p29
    75. East’, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, II: 2 (2008), p73
    76. Ozturk, op cit, p76
    77. Inbar, op cit, p31
    78. Ibid, p32
    79. Liel, op cit, p26

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