Tag: Turkish Jews

  • Turkish Jews Voice Wary Confidence About Future

    Turkish Jews Voice Wary Confidence About Future

    Despite Rift With Israel, Community Feels Strong Bond to Homeland

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    Standing Firm: Turkey’s chief rabbi speaks at Istanbul’s Neve Shalom Synagogue after it was bombed by terrorists. Despite their government’s feud with Israel, Turkish Jews say they still feel welcome in their country.

    By Ben Hartman

    Istanbul — The diplomatic clash between Israel and Turkey may be escalating, but many within Turkey’s 23,000-strong Jewish population insist that it is nothing more than politics for them, with no practical effect on their lives or security.

    “In daily life, we don’t fear anything from the Turks,” said Nisya Isman Allovi, manager of the Jewish Museum in Istanbul. But, acknowledging the thick protection her institution and many others in the Jewish community receive, she also said, “Security is, it’s done just to be cautious about everything.”

    The targeting of the community over the years by terrorists — albeit by non-Turks — explains the blast-proof doors and X-ray machines found at Turkish synagogues, where outsiders can attend services only after making advanced reservations with the rabbinate. It may also explain the guarded manner in which members of the community responded to questions from the press.

    At services held on September 16 at Sicli synagogue, the city’s busiest, one man complained of Turkish anti-Semitism, only to respond that everything was fine in Turkey once he was informed that he was speaking to a journalist. The same scene played out repeatedly: Someone would express apprehension about Turkish attitudes toward Jews, or express no fear whatsoever, while demanding that his or her name not be printed.

    One of those Jews, “Haim,” a 76-year-old retiree, said he doesn’t believe that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an anti-Semite or that he will allow any harm to befall Turkey’s Jews.

    “His problem is only with the Israeli government and not the people,” Haim said. “Erdogan won’t let the Jews be hurt, because we’re his citizens, we pay taxes. He’s said this. He just wants to attract Arab support, Arab business and tourism. I don’t believe he hates Jews. It’s politics only.”

    Holding a key chain that held a locket with a picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of Turkey as a modern secular state, and a quarter-sized bronze menorah, Haim said that there was nothing for Jews to fear in regard to anti-Semitism in Turkey, but then he asked that his real name not be used. Haim related that his brother was killed in a 1986 terror attack on Congregation Neve Shalom.

    Allovi, one of the few Jews willing to speak on the record, said: “The problems between Israel and Turkey are not between the people, they are between the countries. It’s like, if you go to Greece you can drink ouzo and talk to people and be fine, just… don’t talk about politics.”

    When asked if young Turkish Jews were inclined to leave the country for Israel or North America once they reach adulthood, Allovi, a 32-year-old Istanbul native, said: “The young Jews usually stay. It’s [Turkey] where I was born, the place I feel the most attached to. It’s also my native language and the food, everything. Most of my friends are Muslim, and I feel that I have more similarities with a Turkish Muslim than, say, a French Jew or a Jew from somewhere else just because they’re Jewish. We grow up together, go to the same schools, watch the same soap operas.”

    The Karakoy neighborohood’s Jewish museum, which Allovi administers, traces a narrative of co-existence from the sheltering of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 through the rule of Ataturk and the founding of the modern Turkish republic. The theme of Turkish tolerance of Jews and Jewish assimilation in Turkey and the Ottoman Empire is highlighted with exhibits that include photos of Jewish soldiers in Ottoman military uniforms, a tallit from 1898 stitched with the crescent and star and a menorah built in the shape of a minaret.

    Turkey’s Jewish population has been depleted by decades of immigration to Israel and elsewhere. Today, about 90% of Jews in Turkey live in Istanbul. A small community of about 2,300 Jews resides in Izmir. More than 96% of the community is Sephardi, and Ladino is still spoken widely, especially among the older generation.

    The high security at Jewish sites across the country attests to the caution and trauma that remain from several devastating terrorist attacks over the past three decades. On November 15, 2003, trucks carrying explosives slammed into the Neve Shalom and Beth Israel synagogues during Sabbath services, killing 27 people and wounding hundreds. In a previous attack at the Neve Shalom synagogue, in 1986, men from the Abu Nidal terrorist organization gunned down 22 worshippers on a Sabbath morning. Years later, in 1992, a bomb exploded outside the synagogue, causing no casualties.

    Taylan Bilgic, a senior editor at the Hurriyet Daily News, the English-language version of the Turkish Daily Hurriyet, spoke of the Palestinian issue as something that stokes strong passions across Turkish society and will continue to be highlighted by players like Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development party and others who want to enhance their support in the country.

    “On the left and right, [from] Muslims to atheists they all have a connection to the Palestinian cause. It’s beyond ideology,” Bilgic said. “You may have primitive Islamists who are trying to utilize this emotional bond for their own purposes, but what politician wouldn’t?”

    Bilgic added that he believes that Erdogan and many of his base supporters subscribe to a sort of “primitive anti-Semitism.” It is a sentiment that is not common among Turks generally, he said, but could potentially affect the country’s Jewish community if the tension with Israel worsens.

    “If the government manages to make its primitive anti-Semitic ideology take root in society, it could spill over on the Jews here, but I don’t think it will. It depends on Israel and what Israel agrees to do about the Palestinians,” he said.

    Contact Ben Hartman at feedback@forward.com

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  • How will Turkey’s Jews vote?

    How will Turkey’s Jews vote?

    Ynet special: Jews in tough spot ahead of elections, with Israel-Turkey ties at all-time low

    Aviel Magnezi

    Just over 10,000 Jews throughout Turkey – a number almost too insignificant to mention – will be heading to the polls Sunday as tens of millions of voters, 99.8% of which are Muslims, will hit the polling stations. 

    The Jewish vote, negligible or not, is both intriguing and interesting at a time when the elections are accompanied by the heavy burden of the deterioration in relations between the Israel Turkey.

    A quick search through Turkey’s main news sites revealed an incredible fact: At nearly every speech, at almost every rally, the two leading candidates – Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current prime minister who stands at the head of the AKP and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the CHP, raise the issue of Israel-Turkey relations and the Gaza flotilla – with accusations, finger-pointing and a great deal of wrangling. 

    Where is the Jewish vote in all of this? “We don’t go into politics. Each person knows who and what he will vote for and does so. It doesn’t make sense for the Jewish community to deal in politics.” 

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    Possibly it is this short sentence, the only remark Turkey’s Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva agreed to share with Ynet, that symbolizes the position of Turkey’s Jews on the eve of the 2011 elections. 

    Last year, following the events of the Gaza flotilla and the incidents on the Mavi Marmara, Rabbi Haleva harshly criticized Israel, accusing it of unnecessary provocation and inappropriate behavior. 

    The rabbi even went on to praise Erdogan and claimed that he “was making a clear distinction between the State of Israel and the Jews of his country and ensuring their safety.” 

    Most likely, the above statements aren’t a true expression of Rabbi Haleva’s opinions. After all, it was Rabbi Haleva who a short time after his son Yitzhak was injured in the 2003 terror attack at the Istanbul synagogue rushed to declare: “No one will succeed in breaking my Jewish pride and my connection with Israel.” 

    The criticism of Israel and the Turkish fez he wore on his head were likely part of his attempt to prove his loyalty to benefit a higher cause, one which has been marked by Jewish leaders and rabbis for generations – defending the Jewish community and keeping it far from any inflammatory cause that could harm it. 

    Protecting the community

    Turkey’s Jews number 20,000 – a drop in the ocean among the 80 million residents of the Turkish republic. 

    “Jews don’t have a political body, they have the rabbinate and that is it. Their leadership isn’t political and it is clear that they don’t want to come out with declarations that could endanger the Jewish community,” Denis Ozlu, a well known born and bred Istanbul resident said, explaining the motives of community officials. 

    Ozlu, who unlike many in Turkey’s Jewish community openly declares that he will be voting for CHP, said: “If I were to be the community’s official voice I would also express myself differently”. 

    Spokesman for the Turkish expats association in Israel, Refael Sadi, also came out in defense of Rabbi Haleva, who was once his teacher.
    emine tayyip erdoga

    Will Erdogan win again? (Photo: EPA)

     

    Sadi, who made aliyah in the ’90s, studied at university with Erdogan at Istanbul University’s economics program between 1974 and 1978. Until recently the two still maintained their friendly relationship and Sadi’ who runs a news site that caters to Turkey’s Jewish community, interviewed Erdogan for the Jewish newspaper when the prime minister visited Israel. 

    Yet the deterioration in relations between the two countries led the two to drift apart. According to Sadi, the Jewish silence over the upcoming elections doesn’t stem from direct fear of Erdogan who, if one takes the way he presents himself to the West as equality loving supporter of religious freedom, can’t hurt the Jews directly. 

    “The fear is of extremist organizations in the country that receive reinforcement from the prime minister’s statements against Israel,” Sadi said.

     

    According to Sadi, although Erdogan declares that Turkey’s Jews are an inseparable part of the Turkish nation, his statements against Israel give legitimization to the hatred expressed against Jews on the Turkish street.

     

    ‘Erodgan wants democratic Islamic state’

    Describing the heated atmosphere days before the election, Jackie Angel, a Turkish Jew from Istanbul who made aliyah when he was 13 and returned to Turkey after 15 years, said: “There are massive rallies every day. On Friday there were 300,000 people in Izmir and 200,000 were at the square here last week.”

     

    And yet, he added that “the fact that the winner seems almost a forgone conclusion means that people aren’t very excited here.” 

    Angel said that he was planning to vote for the opposition party in the elections but even if the forcasted results are proved to be correct and Erdogan gets reelected, Angel doesn’t believe that the situation in Turkey will witness any drastic change. 

    “Erdogan doesn’t have 70% of the vote, far from it. There are other parties that will balance him,” he said.

     

    And what would happen if he did have the electoral power? Angel estimated that Erdogan “would change all the laws from a religious perspective, not to an extreme like Syria or Egypt, but he would still aspire to create a democratic Islamic state.”

     

    Angel believes that most Turkish Jews will be voting for the opposition party (CHP) “like every election” but pointed out that he never forgot, not for a moment, the stories his father told him describing how just a few years back the heavy taxation under which the Jewish community suffered was imposed by none other than the opposition party. 

    Yet alongside the sweeping support given to the CHP by the Jewish community, Angel said that Turkey’s stable economic situation has brought about Jewish support for Erdogan’s party.

     

    “It (the economic situation) influences people; they see the situation in the world and economies collapsing. People think of themselves,” he said.

     

    Jewish discomfort

    Tal Eritz, 51, was born in Izmir and now lives in Antalya. She represents the other side of the political map, and is a rare example of someone who speaks out openly, expressing anger over Erdogan’s statements against Israel. 

    She told Ynet about her sister and niece who live in Israel and are afraid to visit her. She also tells of a great deal of anger within the Jewish community towards Ankara’s attitude to Israel, the Chabad representative who left because there are no longer any Israeli tourists, and even the Turkish merchants in the Souk who have no business and keep asking her when will the tourists from the Holy Land return..

    Thus, even though her friends tell her she shouldn’t speak openly against the Turkish authorities, Eritz said she wasn’t afraid.

     

    “Heaven forbid that I would vote for the ruling party. I’ll vote for Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan’s remarks are intended for anti-Jews and anti-Israelis; he wants their vote,” she said.

     

    The position of Turkey’s Jewish community became nearly untenable in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead in 2009. Relations between Israel and Turkey were at an all-time low and billboards started popping up throughout Istanbul’s streets with slogans claiming “you can’t be the children of Moses – thou shall not murder” in Hebrew alongside images of bloodied baby shoes. 

    The billboards were the work of a certain solidarity group, and their appearance led Turkey’s Jews to come out against billboards of that kind. The atmosphere that followed and the accusations hurled at Israel by the Turkish public all led to a great deal of discomfort for local Jews. 

    “In the days after Operation Cast Lead and the Gaza flotilla it wasn’t pleasant to be a Jew here, there were concerns,” said Angel but immediately added that Erdogan’s statements that he had nothing against Turkey’s Jews and Jews in general are not completely unrealistic.

    “During Erdogan’s term in office there was no adverse effect on the Jewish community,” he said.

     

    Angel believes that Erdogan is amassing political assets through his harsh remarks against Israel – remarks that heat up the whole of Turkey. But he explained that the harsh words on the eve of the elections will make no difference. 

    “He’s using the ‘child killers’ angle as well as the Syrian issue. It bothers us, we want a healthy relationship with Israel, but this isn’t the US, and obviously 12,000 voting Jews won’t make a difference,” he said.

  • The Role of Turkish Diplomats in Saving Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944

    The Role of Turkish Diplomats in Saving Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944

    By Arnold Reisman

    Mr. Reisman PhD is listed in Who’s Who in America, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He published over 300 papers in refereed journals and seventeen books. His latest books are: TURKEY’S MODERNIZATION: Refugees from Nazism and Atatürk’s Vision and Classical European Music and Opera. He is currently working on two other titles. They are: PERFIDY: Britannia and Her All-Jewish Army Units and Ambassador and a Mentsch: The Story of a Turkish Diplomat in Vichy France.

    During World War II, Turkish diplomats saved Turkish Jews living in France (many were French citizens others were holding Turkish passports) from certain death, a fact of which the Anglophone world was ignorant until Stanford Shaw first revealed the historical data in 1995.1 Up until that time, this important piece of history had been ignored by historians. Mistakenly however, Shaw attributed the actions of Turkey’s legations in both occupied and Vichy France to a well articulated policy created by the Turkish government in Ankara, when in fact these brave acts of heroism were devised by the diplomats themselves as a matter of conscience. In fact, from the outset of these actions the Turkish government had to be prodded and pushed, with various ramifications including implied aid programs from a number of sources, to acquiesce from outside of Turkey not from within. The diplomats involved were: Behiç Erkin, Turkish ambassador to Paris and later to Vichy; Necdet Kent, Consul General in Marseilles; Paris Consul-Generals Cevdet Dülger, Fikret Sefik Özdoganci, and Paris Vice Consuls Namik Kemal Yolga, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Melih Esenbel; Marseilles Consul Generals Bedi’i Arbel, and Mehmed Fuad Carim.2

    Recent findings of many contemporaneous documents from the NARA, Library of Congress, and the FDR Presidential library archives attest to the fact that the intervention in behalf of French Jews with Turkish origins was not the policy of the Government of Turkey at all. Rather, it was the determined undertaking of members of the Turkish diplomatic corps who acted on their own against the extant policy of their own government and that of the US and the UK.  These men of conscience risked their careers and often their lives finding no support among their diplomatic peers representing western countries including those in the US legation. With their deeds these diplomats risked the wrath and ire of their own government as well as Germany and Vichy France.

    While Germany and Vichy France were anti-Semitic to their cores, Turkey was in the unenviable position of attempting to maintain neutrality while in dire fear of being invaded by Germany. For that reason and after great pressure from Germany, Ambassador Behiç Erkin was recalled to Ankara and the rate at which Jews were repatriated to Turkey was greatly diminished. Many Jews were saved by the acts of the Turkish legation in France.  From March 15, 1943 through  May 23, 1944, the Turkish Embassy in Vichy and Consulates-General in Paris arranged for no fewer than eight groups of former Turkish Jews averaging roughly fifty-three persons each to be returned to Turkey and to freedom by rail in sealed wagons. This is but a part of claims that all 20,000 Turkish Jews residing in France were saved. Looked at in reverse the known number of Turkish Jews deported from France to the death camps is 1659.

    To fully appreciate the actions taken by Behiç Erkin and his staff, one need only look at the fate of Jews in Thesalonika, Greece. During WWII Greece was occupied by the Nazis but neutral Turkey maintained an Embassy in Athens and a Consulate in Thesalonika. Before the war Thesalonika boasted a Jewish population of 56,000, most with roots in the Ottoman Empire dating back to the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492. These Jews were no different than those in France, many of whom were saved by Behiç Erkin and his staff while the entire Thesalonika Jewish community was deported to the crematoria. Why did the Turkish legation in Greece not raise objections? They did not interfere since they had no instructions from Ankara to do so, and obviously lacked the moral compass that guided their colleagues in France.

    As the war continued the Nazis began persecuting French Jews. Many “Turkish Jews” who had relinqueshed their Turkish citizenship “suddenly found it was far better to be a Turkish Jew than a French Jew, and they applied in large numbers to have their Turkish citizenship restored.”

    According to a Raoul Wallenberg Foundation website:

    Turkish diplomats serving in France at that time dedicated many of their working hours to Jews. They provided official documents such as citizenship cards and passports to thousands of Jews and in this way they saved their lives.

    Below is a story of these diplomats.

    Behiç Erkin was the Turkish ambassador to Paris when France was under Nazi occupation. In order to prevent the Nazis from rounding up Jews, he gave them documents saying their property, houses and businesses, belonged to Turks. He saved many lives in this way.

    Pressure mounted for Turkey to recall her Ambassador from France as he was deemed unmanageable.

    reisman

    Was it a coincidence that Behiç Erkin “resigned” from his posting to France on the 23rd of August 1943 and three days later from the Foreign Service altogether?    There is no question but that Erkin was removed from the Ambassadorial post because of Ankara’s inability to withstand Germany’s pressure and the implied threat of invasion. For Turkey, angering Berlin meant more than risking the loss of lucrative exports at a time when its economy was still in shambles.  There was also a real and present danger that Germany could opt to use Turkey as a route to the Caspian area oil riches in order to hit the Soviets on another front –  its soft underbelly. This was indeed a real possibility, not just conjecture. Turkey’s army stood prepared. 

    In a letter dated September 2, 2008, to Abdullah Gul, President of the Republic of Turkey, the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation’s Founder, Baruch Tenenbaum, stated “we are conducting an extensive research into the actions of the Turkish diplomats who were stationed in France during WWII, including Ambassador Behic Erkin, Consul Bedi’i Arbel and Vice Consul Necdet Kent, just to name a few.” At the time this article was written, that “research” was still ongoing. It is this author’s humble opinion that starting with Behic Erkin, the Ambassador and the “leader of the band” most if not all members of the Turkish legation in France ca 1939-1944 deserve to be honored with Yad Vashem’s “Righteous Gentile” Award.

    Shaw, S.J. Turkey and the Holocaust, (London: Macmillan Press,1993)

    Shaw Turkey and the Holocaust; Kıvırcık The ambassador:

    Anonymous,  Proceedings of the Second Yad Vashem International Historical Conference on Rescue Attempts During the Holocaust, held in Jerusalem, 8-11 April 1974

    Ibid

    “Notes from the Leahy diary,” US Ambassador in Vichy, France, William D. Leahy papers, Library of Congress All diary entries for 1941: Reel 2, William D. Leahy Diaries, 1897-1956, (Washington DC: Library of Congress), microfilm. All diary entries for 1942 and letters to Welles: Reel 3, William D. Leahy Diaries, 1897-1956, Washington DC: Library of Congress), microfilm. Entries for: Jan. 1 – p.2; Jan. 8 – p. 4; March 5 – p.29; April 14 – p. 46; April 25th – p. 52. For  July 18, 1941 letter to Welles – p. 2; Sept. 13, 1941 letter to Welles – p. 3.

    Source:  History News Network, 02.11.2009,

    http://hnn.us/articles/118548.html

  • Turkey and Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944

    Turkey and Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944

    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1488296

    Turkey and Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944

    Arnold Reisman
    Reisman and Associates

    October 13, 2009

    Abstract:
    Turkish diplomats saved Turkish Jews living in France from certain death during World War II. The Anglophone part of the world was ignorant of this fact until Stanford Shaw first revealed the historical data in 1995. Up until that time, this important piece of history had been ignored by historians. However Shaw suggested that the actions of Turkey’s legations were part of a well articulated policy formulated by the Turkish Foreign Ministry with the blessing of the government in Ankara. Not long thereafter, those acts of heroism and decency mentioned by Shaw were revealed in detail with the underlying presumption that at very minimum the Turkish diplomats were given guidance to act from Ankara. The totality of recent findings of contemporaneous documents from various US government archives attest to the fact that the intervention in behalf of French Jews with Turkish origins was not the policy of the Government of Turkey at all but the determined undertaking of members of the Turkish diplomatic corps in France who acted on their own against the extant policy of their own government and that of the US and the UK. In fact, from the outset of these actions the Turkish government had to be prodded and pushed to acquiesce from outside of Turkey not from within. With their deeds the diplomats risked the wrath and ire of their own government as well as the governments of Germany and Vichy France. At all times they risked their careers and often their lives finding no solace among diplomatic peers representing western countries. After Turkish Ambassador Behiç Erkin’s forced departure from Vichy, the removal of Turkish Jews from France to safety in Turkey greatly diminished.

    Keywords: Shoah, Turkish diplomats, Vichy France, World War II, Turkish Jews

    JEL Classifications: J70, J71, Z00

    Working Paper Series

    Date posted: October 13, 2009 ; Last revised: October 13, 2009

    Suggested Citation

    Reisman, Arnold, Turkey and Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944 (October 13, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1488296
  • Turk who saved Jews from Auschwitz remembered

    Turk who saved Jews from Auschwitz remembered

    RHODES, Greece (AFP) — Dozens of families from around the world gathered Saturday on the Greek island of Rhodes to pay tribute to the man who in 1944 saved 40 Jews from being deported to a Nazi concentration camps.

    Selahattin Ulkumen, Turkish consul general on the island in 1943, is remembered for his role in saving the Turkish Jews by persuading a German general to release them the day before they were due to be transported to Auschwitz.

    Nearly 2,500 Jews from Rhodes and the nearby island of Kos were deported on July 24, 1944. All but 150 perished in the Nazi gas chambers or concentration camps.

    However, some months later Ulkumen persuaded the German general on the island to release the 40 Turkish Jews, by reminding him of Turkey’s neutrality.

    “I was 13 years old and I can still picture the long discussions in front of us between Selahattin Ulkumen and the German general,” said Sami Modiano, one of the deportees who survived.

    Ulkumen’s 64-year-old son, Mehmet, joined the commemoration and was presented with a plaque by the president of the Central Jewish Council of Greece, Moisis Constantinis.

    Ulkumen was arrested at the end of 1944 by the Germans after Turkey sided with the Allies. The Turkish consulate on Rhodes was subsequently bombed and his wife, pregnant with Mehmet, and two employees were wounded. His wife died a week after giving birth.

    None of the Holocaust survivors ever returned to live on the island.

    An attempt to re-establish the Jewish community there in the 1950s by settling families from different Greek regions did not have much success and the island’s Jewish population currently stands at no more than 40, said secretary of the Rhodes Jewish community Carmen Levi.

    Concentration camp survivor Stella Levi said she made the journey to her birthplace from her home in New York every year.

    This tribute “is a historic moment for the Jews of Rhodes,” she said.

    Once dubbed “Little Jerusalem” Rhodes took in several hundred Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 15th century who joined those already on the island.

    Between the two world wars, the Jewish population of the island reached about 6,000.

    Some 67,000 Greek Jews perished in the Holocaust, 86 percent of the country’s entire Jewish community.

    Source: AFP, 27 July 2008