William Safire of The New York Times can sure be funny. The vehemently pro-Israeli columnist in the generally anti-Turkish newspaper would almost always be sure to say a bad word about Turkey, whenever the subject of Turkey would come up. Since the nation forged an alliance with his beloved Israel, suddenly Turkey became a good guy, in his eyes. (At least for this article, anyway.) .
In the articles following, this page will deviate from the main topic, and get more into William Safire.
Byzantine Alliance
Essay
WILLIAM SAFIRE
December 10, 1997
Byzantine Alliance
Turks and Israelis forge new ties.
WASHINGTON
Two meetings are taking place this week that will affect the power balances of tomorrow’s Middle East.
Most eyes are on Teheran’s Islamic conference, where leaders of 55 mostly Muslim nations listen impassively to a radical Ayatollah — whose internal theological authority they know is crumbling — rail at the “poisonous breath” of the United States and Israel.
Less observed abroad, but far more significant, is Turkey’s answer to fundamentalists and dictators: the first official visit to Turkey of an Israeli Defense Minister, accompanied by a large delegation of military officials, technicians and business executives.
Turkey is a secular Muslim country. As its neighbors that are Arabs — led by Iraq, Syria and Egypt — passed a resolution in Teheran denouncing the Turks for their growing ties to Israel, the Defense Minister of Turkey coolly replied, “We respect the Islamic conference, we belong to it, but we cannot allow it to dictate our relations.”
The man who has done most in the past eight years to bring about this tectonic shift is the former Israeli Air Force general David Ivri. Reached by telephone in Ankara yesterday, the nonpolitical General Ivri told me that “despite the passionate statements from other countries, this strategic tie is stabilizing. It’s not directed against anybody.”
Except aggressors.
Turkey needs some new friends in the world. It sees Syria playing host in Damascus to the P.K.K. Kurds trying to break off a large piece of Turkey. It sees Iraq and Iran developing fearsome new weapons and the missiles to deliver them. It sees Germany and Greece selfishly blocking its entry into European integration, and its importance to NATO diminished with the temporary reduction of the Russian threat.
What can Turkey get from its new bonds with Israel? It has already contracted for a $630 million modernization of its air force: 54 of its outdated fighters will be equipped with the latest avionics and radar systems, and a new deal is in the works for 48 more. That doesn’t turn them into F-15’s, but will enable them to knock down what nasty neighbors might send aloft.
Also, Israelis know how to build advanced tanks; talks are under way on a joint design for production in Turkey. Ground-to-air missiles are on the shopping list. Because the U.S.-Israeli military tie is not subject to political vicissitudes, Turkey will look to Israel to get American permission to sell Arrow anti-missile missiles (a joint U.S.-Israel defensive weapon coming on line in 1999), and to urge the U.S. to help Ankara.
Israel’s interest in the Byzantine bond goes beyond a chunk of future billions in military spending. Its airmen can now train in airspace that offers a land profile of battle sorties. Mit-Mossad intelligence cooperation is a prospect. And a nation of six million is more willing to take risks for peace with a nearby nation of 60 million as a strategic partner.
The Israelis will leave it to the Americans to remind Ankara, cracking down on Kurdish separatists and closing up the religious party, about the value of human rights.
The Turks know the U.S. will do that, too, despite our need for Turkish bases to maintain our no-fly zone over northern Iraq. Before Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz visits the White House next week, I expect him to throw the outspoken Kurdish dissident Leyla Zana out of prison, though that member of Parliament prefers to remain locked up for dramatic impact.
As General Ivri foresaw, the geopologic of Turkish-Israeli military, economic and technological ties (it’s impolitic to call the new relationship an alliance) is greater than Islamic solidarity or European clubbiness.. Common threats create mutual interests, and growing trust develops comrades in more than arms. In ancient times, the Jews and Greeks lost to the Romans, who were swallowed up into the Byzantine Empire, which was broken up by the Turks, Persians, Russians, Arabs and Venetians.
In modern times, the Turks and Jews are protecting themselves against the Persians of Iran and Arabs of Iraq and Syria, who are supported by the Russians, Greeks, and Goths and Romans of Europe. The Venetians seem to be out of it, as are the Americans.
A Small Backdrop on Relations
Relations between Turkey and Israel go back to March 1949, less than a year after Israel came into existence, when Ankara recognized the Jewish state. Establishing formal ties to Israel sent a strong message about Turkey's international orientation, bringing it close to the West even as it alienated the Arabs; as Gamal Abdel Nasser explained in 1954, "Turkey, because of its Israeli policy is disliked in the Arab world." But the Turkey-Israel tie at that time was mostly symbolic and despite efforts to make it substantial, had little content. Relations diminished in the aftermath of 1973, when Turks, bowing to the Arab oil weapon, distanced themselves from Israel. Coolness toward Israel remained for about a decade afterwards, eroding only as did the Arabs' wealth and clout. Israel and Turkey quietly enhanced intelligence cooperation in the aftermath of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon but formal and public relations remained cool.
danielpipes.org
Safire Renews Attack During Gulf War II
As the TAT site is "going to press," "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is underway... and Turkey's name is currently mud for not whole-heartedly supporting every move of the United States. The kinds of quotes heard on American television are: "Since Turkey Screwed Us..."
"Because Turkey Jerked Us Around..."
"If Turkey hadn't messed with us..."
"Turkey tried to bribe us into letting them invade Iraq by offering us
Airspace rights..." (All from Fox News, as cited in an editorial by Sedef M. Buyukataman entitled, "Examine the Facts.") Turkey's unusual decision not to wag her tail the moment the United States snapped her fingers is a move that will (as Ms. Buyukataman wrote) "not only cost Turkey billions of dollars in foreign aid but also countless dollars in tourism, foreign business opportunities and, as the following months will show, by making the job of anti-Turkish lobbies a hundred times easier."
What does all this mean? Time for Billy Safire to go on the attack again.
William Safire
In an April 3, 2003 opinion for The New York Times ("On Rewarding Friends"), the former speechwriter for Richard Nixon wrote, "But trust is shot. With our ships laden with troops and tanks offshore, Turkey suddenly embraced neutralism. Generations of Americans with memories of gallant Turks fighting alongside us in the Korean War — and saving refugees after the first gulf war — are being replaced by a generation that will remember the slamming of Turkey's door in our faces."
He concluded his piece with, "Peoples have memories that profoundly affect international ties. Those memories are being forged right now, and Americans won't forget our friends."
How odd. All these many years, Turkey would obsequiously do whatever the United States wanted — the U.S. could perhaps find no greater ally. It's peculiar that William Safire suddenly recalled the gallantry of the Turks from the Korean War, as he forever has had the worst case of amnesia when it came to writing anything positive about the Turks. For half a century, Turkey has been America's greatest friend and ally (besides Britain), and when Turkey decides to look out for her own interests before the United States', Billy Safire threatens he will no longer regard Turkey as a friend. What a phony.
Josh Marshall wrote in a March 26 2003 article for The Hill entitled, "Don’t place blame on the Turks": "The drive for Baghdad, they now tell us, just proved what we should have known all along: that our so-called “friends” and allies were never really our friends at all. The most pernicious and self-serving of these arguments is that aimed at America’s erstwhile allies, the Turks. Beside Britain, no country was thought more likely to be at our side when the bombs started falling. And resentment toward them has been ferocious."
The same writer exposes William Safire's hypocrisy with the following article:
Is William Safire just another Tricky Dick?
Ten days ago Safire fired off a barrage of accusations against America's erstwhile ally, Turkey ("Turkey's Wrong Turn," March 24, 2003). He blamed Turkey's refusal to give the US a northern front on an amalgam of incipient Islamism and greed for northern Iraqi oil. He said Prime Minister Erdogan had turned Turkey into "Saddam's best friend."
Thus Safire wrote ...
Adding diplomatic insult to this military injury, Turkey massed 40,000 troops on its border with Iraq, hoping to grab the oil fields of Kirkuk if Iraqi Kurds rectified Saddam's ethnic cleansing by daring to return to their homes.
The Turks' excuse for seizing today's moment of liberation to bite off a rich chunk of their neighbor is this: they insist that Iraqi Kurds plan to set up an independent state, which would then supposedly cause Turkish Kurds to secede and break up Turkey.
That's strictly Erdogan's cover story for an oil grab, undermining the coalition's plans for an Iraq whole and free.
Now, as I noted in The Hill last week, Safire's argument was really little more than a bundle of slurs built on a series of fairly straightforward logical contradictions. The long and the short of it was that Safire was just letting the Turks have it because they refused the United States. That required taking them down two or three notches.
But if Turkey really was refusing us because it craved the oil fields of Kirkuk, would Safire really be in much of a position to criticize them? Not really, since he's spent the last eighteen months dangling the lure of Iraqi oil in front of the Turks as their reward for helping the US topple Saddam.
For instance, just after 9/11, Safire wrote a column in which he was supposedly "channeling" his one-time boss Richard Nixon about the wars on terrorism and Saddam ("The Turkey Card," November 5th, 2001).
Here's a snippet from the 'interview' ...
Q: The Turks have already volunteered about a hundred commandos -- you mean we should ask for more?
Nixon: Get out of that celebrity-terrorist Afghan mindset. With the world dazed and everything in flux, seize the moment. I'd make a deal with Ankara right now to move across Turkey's border and annex the northern third of Iraq. Most of it is in Kurdish hands already, in our no-flight zone -- but the land to make part of Turkey is the oil field around Kirkuk that produces nearly half of Saddam Hussein's oil [italics added].
Q: Doesn't that mean war?
Nixon: Quick war, justified by Saddam's threat of germs and nukes and terrorist connections. We'd provide air cover and U.N. Security Council support in return for the Turks' setting up a friendly government in Baghdad. The freed Iraqis would start pumping their southern oil like mad and help us bust up OPEC for good.
Q: What's in it for the Turks?
Nixon: First, big money -- northern Iraq could be good for nearly two million barrels a day, and the European Union would fall all over itself welcoming in the Turks. Next, Turkey would solve its internal Kurd problem by making its slice of Iraq an autonomous region called Kurdistan.
Now, that was "Nixon" talking. And even though it was pretty clear these were slightly more coarse and candid expressions of Safire's own thinking, maybe you figure it's unfair to identify him directly with these ideas. But how about another column ("Of Turks and Kurds," August 26th, 2002) from just last summer, in which Safire speculated on what the Turks might gain from getting involved in the regime change game ...
But many Turks, having just defeated their own Kurdish terrorists headquartered in Damascus, are still transfixed by the chimera of Kurdish separatism. They worry that when Saddam is overthrown, Iraqi Kurds will split off into an independent Kurdistan, its traditional capital in oil-rich Kirkuk, which might encourage Turkish Kurds also to break away. But that defies all logic: would the Kurdish people, free inside a federated Iraq and with their culture respected in Turkey, start a war against the regional superpower?
Turks also worry about the million Turkomen in northern Iraq. It should not be beyond the wit of nation-builders to ensure that minority's rights and economic improvement. Turkey has a claim on oil royalties from nearby fields dating back to when Iraq was set up [italics added]. As a key military ally in the liberation and reformation of that nation, and with judicious U.S.-guaranteed oil investments, Turkey should begin to get its debt paid.
See the game Safire has been playing? First, he tries to get the Turks on the regime-change bandwagon with the lure of Iraqi oil. When they refuse the temptation, he accuses them of cravenly lusting after the very thing he unsuccessfully tried to tempt them with. Yesterday in the Times he was actually at it again. What sort of weird combination of disingenuousness and projection is this? Tricky Dick? How 'bout just plain ... well, this is a family website. But you get the idea.
-- Josh Marshall, Talkingpointsmemo.com, April 3, 2003
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It would appear The New York Times published the following reply on March 31, 2003:
Democratic Turkey
To the Editor:
Re ''Turkey's Wrong Turn,'' by William Safire (column, March 24):
It is strange that the moment Turkey proves beyond a doubt that it is much more democratic than many give it credit for is when it is harshly criticized for not being less democratic.
Perhaps those who purport to be friends of Turkey should reconsider whether they are really interested in a democratic Turkey or a vassal state of the United States.
ERDAL ATREK
Sunnyvale, Calif., March 26, 2003
The alternate news outlet, Counterpunch, charges Billy Safire and The New York Times for making up a tale accusing a Taiwanese-American of being a spy for the Chinese: Sliming Wen Ho Lee
Israel Hanukoglu, Ph.D.
Research Institute
College of Judea and Samaria
Ariel, Israel
(ADDENDUM, 4-07: The article will be followed by the "oral history" of a former Turkish Jew living in Israel, regarding the fate of Turks and Jews at the hands of the Armenians.)
The current dispersion of Jews dates back to 70 g.E. when the Roman army invaded Jerusalem and expelled the Jews from Judea and Samaria. Some of these Jews reached Spain and established thriving communities there. In the 15th century the Jews in Spain faced strong pressures to convert to Christianity and many yielded to this pressure and became Christians.
In 1492 the king of Spain issued an edict to expel all Jews from Spain who did not convert to Christianity. When the news of this reached the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan (Emperor) Beyazit II issued a decree to welcome the Jews expelled from Spain. A significant portion of those expelled thus came to the Ottoman Empire and settled mostly in European parts of the Empire. The Turkish Jews are also identified as Sephardic Jews. This derives from the word Sepharad which in Hebrew means Spain.
Since 1492, through five centuries, the Ottoman sultans and the modem day Turkish Republic, welcomed the Jews and offered them a safe haven from persecution in the European countries. The Ottoman Empire at its zenith became one the largest empires in World History covering most of Mediterranean basin region extending from North Africa to Eastern Europe. It has been suggested that one of the characteristics that extended the domination of the Ottoman Empire was its allowance of religious freedom for the different nationalities and minorities under its rule. While many European nations expelled, persecuted or tried to convert the Jews under their dominion, the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire, remained as an outstanding example of tolerance of different nationalities with different religions.
The presentation above sometimes sounds unusual to strangers who may have heard Turkey only in the context of conquests of the Ottoman Empire. Indeed Turkish people have been throughout history a nation with a strong army and strong national feelings. Yet, the Turkish history is also studded with stories of humanity and tolerance. In war time they are a strong nation to avoid confrontation with, but they also know to become friends beyond the war times and zones. This, in my personal opinion, is a consistent pattern of Turkish behavior in all of their extensive history through centuries.
The history of the Ottoman Jews is rich with mutual complementary cultural influences. The Jews coming from Spain established the first printing presses that had just emerged as a most important tool of the modem culture. Many Jewish doctors served in the courts of Ottoman Sultans. Jews engaged in commerce enhanced trade between countries of the region for the benefit of all. The religious freedom allowed the flourishing of famous rabbis that produced outstanding works of comments on the Old Testament.
Until World War I the Land of Israel also known as Palestine, remained under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. During this period the Jewish population living in this region similarly enjoyed religious freedom maintaining their synagogues and daily lives as loyal subjects of the greater Ottoman Empire. After World War I, the British Empire gained control of Transjordan and Palestine which ended in 1948 with the declaration of independence of the State of Israel.
In pre World War II times Turkey opened its doors to Jews from Europe and many German Jewish scientists came to Turkey escaping the Nazi regime. As a biochemist myself, by first hand account I have heard stories of Turkish scientists honoring their German Jewish teachers who escaped to Turkey and taught in universities in Istanbul. The Sephardic communities in Turkey and Bulgaria were the only communities that did not suffer the Nazi Holocaust, thanks to the wisdom of the leaders of these countries during World War II. In contrast, nearly the entire Sephardic Jewish community pf Greece was killed during World War II by the Nazi death machine. The Turkish ambassador to the Greek Island Rhodes, Mr. Selahattin Ulkumen, was awarded the unique medal of “The Righteous Among the Nations” for saving Jews of this island risking his own life.
After World War II, while the British rule tried to prevent the movement of the Jewish refugees into Israel, the modern day Turkish republic allowed its Jewish citizens freely to emigrate to Israel. The current population of Turkish-Jews in Israel is estimated as about 100,000, though a precise figure is difficult to obtain. This represents a relatively small community in the general population of about 6 million in Israel. The major wave of emigration from Turkey to Israel took place between 1940-1950. This migration from Turkey was not a result of a desire to escape from Turkey but rather emanated from the national desire to return to the homeland of our forefathers as each day three times a day we prayed to return to Jerusalem.
My own personal appreciation of Turkish attitude to Jews was shaped slowly. Like any minority in any country, sometimes isolated events of differential treatment are raised. Yet, as I became more knowledgeable and could compare cultures and countries around the globe with the passing of age and experience, we became much more appreciative of the benevolence of the Turkish people who harbored the Jewish people through incredibly barbaric times in the annals of European history. In retrospect of what we know of European history today, we owe Turkish people a great debt of gratitude for saving the lives of thousands of Jews. As Turkish-Jews we have a strong national identity as the descendants of the Biblical Israelites, yet to this day we also feel ourselves as Turkish and identify with the Turkish People.
Today Turkey is one of the most favorite countries for Israeli tourists, thanks to its natural beauty and famous hospitality of its people. The number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey each year is estimated in the hundreds of thousands. This tourist travel has extended the ties of friendship between Israel and Turkey to the general population, outside of the small community of Turkish Jews. Concomitantly, the trade between Turkey and Israel has greatly expanded in all spheres of economic activity from food commodities to hi-tech products. There are also many joint scientific and commercial activities between the two countries.
Both Turkey and Israel are unique in the Middle-East as the only countries with democratic regimes and democratic culture with multi-party systems. As it is well known, Middle-East is highly volatile with intra-Arab (Iran-Iraq war, Iraq-Kuwait Gulf War, Lebanese civil war, etc.) and Arab-Israeli conflicts. I hope that continuing the centuries old tradition of strong ties between Jews in Israel and Turkey may help promote greater stability in this region. The close ties of friendship and tolerance between the Turkish and Jewish People throughout the centuries is proof that Moslems and Jews can live together with mutual respect, and should serve as an example for our Arab neighboring countries with whom we yearn for a peaceful coexistence.
From a complementary perspective, the Arabs want to project the Israeli-Arab conflict as a religious conflict. We as Turkish Jews know that this is an improper use of religion in the fight of Arabs against Israel. In all the generations of Jewish life in Turkey we never saw a single Moslem Turk trying to kill a Jew in the name of Allah, whereas this is a common occurrence here. As the recent events show this conflict is not going to end anytime soon.
May 1, 2001, The Turkish Times
A slightly longer version of the above may be read here.
Oral History, Regarding Armenians, from an Israeli
“… I would like to relate, especially to the Armenian friends, this incident that I heard. I am a Jew, of Istanbul origin, and have lived in Israel for the last 35 years. My wife’s father is a Caucasus-Jew who died before I could get to know him. As far as I can remember, they had escaped from the Caucasus when he was a young boy and resettled in Adana (an agricultural and trade hub, as well as a port city in the South of Turkey). About 10 years ago, at a family wedding, I met an old gentleman who knew about my deceased father-in-law and mentioned some incidents about his childhood, his family, and the turmoil of those days, that were quite interesting to us. According to what he told me, During WWI, the Russians invaded the Caucasus, and with the help of local Armenians, they have chased Turks and Jews, killed whoever they could catch, and then pillaged and plundered Turkish and Jewish villages. He was about 10 years old and my father-in-law was only 3 and he said there is no way he could forget that exodus, that fleeing. Turks and Jews brought with them to Anatolia whatever they could pack with them. Jewish families first went to Van (a city by the lake Van in Eastern Anatolia). While some Jewish families settled there, others continued their travel to settle in Adana and other places, and still others went as far as Palestine.
What I am trying to my Armenian friends is this: everything has a prior history. If the Armenian attack and kill Turks, Turks, in their quest to avenge those Armenian atrocities, may have caused massacres in their counter attacks and chases. Aren’t these ‘eye for an eye’ feuds conventional and normal under the conditions of those days? In contrast, what the Germans did to 6 million Jews can not be explained by such feuds, chases, or civil wars; there was absolutely no reason for the Holocaust. I never quite understood how the Armenians want to be included in the same category as the Jews of Holocaust. Let’s leave those old issues and the old world behind. Let’s look at the present. Let’s talk about what we can do to create a beautiful, happy new world… We should learn from those old stories and history; we should talk about the truth and agree on it; and let’s together build a more secure world to hand over to our children…Nobody benefits from feuds, hatred, and animosity; one can only gain tears that way; let’s worry about tomorrow, brothers, tomorrow! “
Momo Asafrana, Tel Aviv, written in a private chat group, December 3, 2004, as reported in Ergun Kirlikovali's "Israeli and Jewish Sources that Refute the AAG (Alleged Armenian Genocide)." When Kirlikovali asked Mr. Asafrana for permission to use his words, the response was:
"…I see no problem in your quoting my story in your book. Those who create all this fuss around the Armenian issue do not want to understand one thing: instead of teaching love and brotherhood to their kids, they are teaching grudge and hatred (like the Palestinians do). What do they want to achieve with this attitude? Enough of this animosity already…The age old Armenian issue no longer interests me. My children’s future is more important…”
Jews Of Turkey
1) Saving Jews Throughout History
2) Views of Some Turkish Jews Today
3) "Who Said that All Jews were Intelligent and Well-Informed?"
4) Loyalty to the Ottoman Empire
5) Establishment of the Ottoman Jewish Community
6) Christian Anti-Semitism in the Ottoman Empire
JEWS OF TURKEY 500 YEARS OF SHARED HISTORY
During the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations' (ATAA) 10th Convention and also during the ATAA Southern Regional Conference, outstanding presentations were given which explored the little-known 500-year relationship the Sephardic Jewish community had and continues to have with Turks and Turkey. ATA-USA is printing the summaries of these speeches to inform our readers about the impact this shared history has for Jewish-American and Turkish-American communities and to give an update on the activities planned to celebrate the sooth anniversary.
The Ottoman Sociopolitical Order and the Jews
Professor Avigdor Levy, Director, Program in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University, analyzed the social and political order existing in the Ottoman Empire at the time Jews were welcomed into Turkey by Sultan Bayazid II following their expulsion from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1496 during the Inquisition.
Noting that one thing Jews and Turks have in common is that both groups have been the object of prejudice, Professor Levy went on to point out that while Europeans saw and admired the external, military and political manifestations of the Ottoman system of government, they failed to appreciate its religious and ideological premises, its values and culture. However, for the Ottomans the whole purpose of government was to implement the Holy Law handed down by God and delivered to mankind by Muhammed. Government had to conform to the Holy Law and therefore could not be arbitrary but rather conducted with justice.
The basic premise of justice, coupled with the pragmatism of the regulations, was the key to the success of the Ottoman system in giving the Middle East long periods of prosperity and stability which had not been realized before or since. In this system a unique degree of religious tolerance was accorded to minorities. ln an age when Catholics and Protestants were brutally massacring each other in Europe and when Jews were being pursued from one Christian country to another, the Ottoman subjects were free to practice their religious belief with comparatively few disabilities.
Traditional Ottoman society was divided into numerous groups, each of which had its own distinctive rights and obligations. Those who directly served the state were generally referred to as askeri, meaning "military" or "ruling class." This class were exempt from taxes and included not only military personnel but also bureaucrats and men of religion. In the fifteenth century; thousands of Christians and some Jews were admitted into this class. All others, Muslims and non-Muslims, were taxpayers known as reaya, or "flocks:' Taxes were levied according to the taxpayer's ability to pay and the Ottomans strove to prevent abuses.
The Ottomans were great administrators and organizers who knew how to make things work. In many cases they borrowed existing institutions, developing and perfecting them, which made them far superior to the original. The Sephardic Jews so perfectly suited the pragmatic needs of the government, providing a source of strength and wealth, that the Ottoman authorities helped facilitate their travel and resettlement in the Empire. Recognized as people of the book, the Jews were made a privileged minority.
In 1516, when the Turks seized Palestine from the Mamluks, the Jews declined the generous offer of the Sultan to accept Eretz Yisrael as a homeland, Sensing that the best protection against Christian anti-Semitism was to remain within Ottoman Jurisdiction, they were too well integrated and comfortable to seek independence.
In the heterogeneous society of the Empire, the minorities lived for the most part in peace and mutual respect; did business with each other; and lived in peace as good neighbors in close proximity in a spirit of live and let live. The Ottoman government felt duty bound to accept both Muslim and non-Muslim refugees not only in the tradition of tolerance and pluralism, but also because they recognized that people with specialized knowledge and talents were a source of wealth and strength. Refugees came from virtually all parts of Europe, generally fleeing political and religious persecution in their native lands. The Ukrainians and Russians came in the lath and 19th centuries. Following the Napoleonic wars, many Italians, French and Spaniards came, followed later by the Poles. Jews came at virtually all times. Ashkenazi Jews from Germany and France immigrated to the Ottoman empire in the early 15th century, but they were overshadowed by the Spanish and Portuguese Jews.
Ottoman hospitality was very welcome to the Jews because the Ottomans allowed religious minorities a great deal of communal autonomy. This was known as the Millet system, which made minorities an integral part of the sociopolitical system. The Ottomans regulated the structure of the government but allowed latitude in the execution of policy. Therefore, they preferred that the internal administration of minorities be conducted by the minorities themselves. Jewish communities were considered one millet and their internal affairs were conducted by the local rabbis with the assistance of lay leaders.
Jewish communal autonomy included the right to maintain administrative structures that fulfilled all religious, educational, cultural, social and even many legal needs of the community. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries the condition of the Jews declined materially and culturally. They lost their special skills and position while most families became impoverished. This was not the result of discrimination, but rather the effect of the general Ottoman decline.
In the 19th century as the Ottoman empire lost territories in the Balkans, many Jews were forced to flee with the Ottomans. The Ottoman authorities helped to resettle these refugees. Jews remembered all of the Turkish hospitality that had been extended to them through the centuries with great celebrations in 1892, commemorating the fourth centennial of the expulsion of Jews from Spain. They were the sultan's loyal subjects until the end of the empire.
Jews and Turks in the Twentieth Century Dr. Heath Lowry, Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies in Washington, D.C., spoke about the Jewish-Turkish relationship in the twentieth century. He stressed the good relations between Jews and Turks during the years of the Turkish revolution of 1920-1923 which led Mustafa Kemal, the founder of modern Turkey to declare, in a speech in Izmir on February 2, 1923:
"There are one people who have tied their destiny together with the Turkish nation. These are the Jews who have proven their loyalty to this nation and this land."
The Jews had harbored no movement of nationalism or engaged in struggles for national entity from the Turks as had the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians, Rumanians and others. During the Greek occupation of Izmir (1919-1922) they had refused to lend support to the occupying forces and celebrated the liberation of the area by the Turks, The Jews feared for the safety of their coreligionists who had come under Christian rule as the result of the successful revolutionary wars against the Turks at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. They continued to believe that Turkish rule was the best protection against Christian anti-Semitism. Turkey never allowed anti-Semitic behavior.
The focus of the newly-emerged state of Turkey in 1923 was nationalism and linguistic unity. It took some time for the Jews of Turkey to fit comfortably into the new society since most of them still spoke the Judeo-Spanish language of their ancestors. Not because of anti-Semitism but because of the fervor of the newly-established Turkish nationalism, Jews suffered in some anti-minority incidents including the unfair capital gains tax which was instituted in 1944, and rescinded after a few months. However, Dr. Lowry stressed that Jewish life among the Turks continued to be one of safety, harmony and good relations between the two peoples. Especially, he noted the Turkish rescue of Jews from France and Greece during World War II serving as a passageway for European Jewry to Palestine. Jerusalem's Mayor Teddy Kollek was active in the Jewish Agency at this time and witnessed Turkish resistance to Nazi pressure. Later, Turkey became a refuge for Jews from Iran.
Today's Jewish population in Turkey is smaller, about 25 thousand within a Moslem population of 54 million, but has stabilized no longer as a separate minority but rather as an integral part of the country. Thanks to the encouragement of such Jewish intellectuals as Henri Soriano, Moise Franco and Abraham Galante to learn Turkish, Jews are now successful businessmen and industrialists. They have 14 synagogues, 16 rabbis, a chief rabbi (and his council of 30 lay leaders), a mikvak, two parochial schools, three social clubs, a special hospital, home for the elderly and a Jewish newspaper.
The Jewish community in Turkey is presently engaged in preparations for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of their welcome into the Ottoman Empire. In conclusion, Dr. Lowry expressed the hope that in the next hundred years their descendants and ours will be on hand to mark the 600th anniversary as well.
Sephardic Organizations in Turkey and America
At the ATAA Southern Regional Conference as well as at the 10th Convention, Rachel Amado Bortnick, past president of Los Amigos Sefaradis of the San Francisco Bay Area, moderated the panel dealing with the modern Sephardic community. She began by quoting historian Cecil Roth who said:
"Jewish people must always recall the Ottoman Empire with gratitude who, at one of Judaism's darkest hours, flung open its door widely and kept them open:'
She lamented the fact that most Jews in the United States are unaware of the vital role played by Turkey in Jewish history, and sometimes defend Turkey's enemies out of ignorance. She then noted that Spain owes Turkey a debt of gratitude for making it possible for the Sephardim to perpetuate their culture. In contrast, the Sephardim who went elsewhere, lost their heritage.
She introduced American Sephardi Federation President Leon Levy at the ATAA Southern Regional Conference, and he noted that although it was billed as regional it had national and international implications. He advised his audience that his remarks were more emotional than of the academic character of the professors who gave the history of the Sephardic Jews in Turkey. His most poignant moment came when he recalled that his daughter was visiting in Istanbul, Turkey a few days before the Neve Shalom synagogue massacre. She had wanted to attend the Sabbath service on that fatal Saturday, but had to return to the United States. He recalled the tremendous outpouring of sympathy from thousands of Turkish mourners when he attended the funerals in Istanbul, and noted that this was indicative of the camaraderie between the Turks and their Jewish citizens. This attack is considered by Turks as an attack on Turkey itself and not one on a minority group.
Mr. Levy related the activities of America's Sephardic Community which numbers only 3% of the whole U.S. Jewish population. The American Jewish population in total only comprises 3% of the total U.S. population. Although Sephardim are small in numbers, they make a much more substantial impact through their leadership. He noted that the last Grand Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire, Haim Nahum (1924) stated:
"It is actually an understatement that there was no anti-Semitism in Turkey. In fact, there was a pro-Semitism. Ottoman governments treated their Jewish subjects with a special consideration and compassion as one of their own, as one of the most loyal and devoted subjects of the empire:"
Experiences of a Sepharic Jew in the Late Days of the Ottoman Empire At both the 10th Convention and the Southern Regional Conference, a very special part of the panel about Jews in Turkey was the recollections of Albert Amateau, a Sephardic Jew, who at 99 years of age lived during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. He gives his audience a glimpse of what life was like for his community in Milas, a small agricultural town in Southwestern Turkey. His eye witness account of the Ottoman treatment of Jews continues with his experiences as a student in Izmir and Istanbul.
In Milas, the Jewish families had integrated themselves with their Turkish neighbors living with them in complete harmony and amity with and among them. When Amateau attended high school in Izmir, he was amazed to see that the Jewish community had isolated itself. This lifestyle may have been patterned after the Greek and Armenian communities, who by their own volition, chose to segregate themselves completely in enclaves at the very edges of the towns, and to lead a segregated social, cultural, and even at times commercial existence.
It is well known and even admitted by the missionaries that under the provisions of the capitulations the European Powers had compelled the Sultan to concede a number of extraterritorial privileges to their nationals in Turkey. The Christian missionaries as indirect agents of propaganda for their governments established schools, hospitals, clinics, and clubs, ostensibly to help the native Christian population. In reality, their programs and aims were to proselyte orthodox Christians into Catholic or Protestant disciplines. They also planned to proselyte Jews and Muslims, but in all the years Amateau was there, he never saw any Jew or Muslim who had converted to Christianity through the efforts of missionaries. Although unsuccessful in this effort, they continually denigrated the Turks and the Ottoman authorities, as crude, inferior and lacking in culture, and as religious fanatics, thus, preaching antagonism and sedition. The Greeks, already fired with their ultra patriotic enosis (union with Greece), and the Armenians, encouraged by Russia to dream of their utopian Armenian Republic within the territories of Turkey, were easy prey to conversion and to plots of sedition and rebellion.
Amateau recounted his experiences in Izmir of watching Ottoman officials carry a considerable cache of arms and ammunition from an Armenian church. He then points to Armenian attempts to have a place in Jewish Holocaust memorials as denigrating the honor of the Jews who died in Hitler's camps. They were not in arms against Germany but the Greeks and Armenians were armed revolutionaries. In fact, he pointed to instances when Muslim Turks saved Jews from attacks by Greek and Armenian gangs who were fueled by anti-semitism.
This elderly gentleman possesses a wealth of first hand experiences of this critical era of history and is an invaluable resource for the Turkish-American community. For a summary of his life please see p. 60 in the People Section.
Rediscovery of a Golden Age: The Sephardic Experience in Turkey
With a slide presentation, Professor Elli Cohen, Professor of Pathology at the University of Miami, detailed the relationship between the Ottoman Sultans and their Sephardic subjects. The friendship between Suleyman the Magnificent and Joseph Nassi, a Marrano from Portugal, was explained, as well as the significant contributions of the Sephardic Jews to Ottoman military operations.
The sultan conferred the title of Grand Rabbi on Haim Nahum, which provided the non-hierarchial Jewish community an overlay of Ottoman chain-of-command administrative structure. Some in the present-day Jewish community have expressed a desire to have a similar position of leadership in effect in the United States.
These presentations on the Sephardic special 500-year relationship with Turks and Turkey marked the beginning of an effort to acquaint both communities with this proud history and to plan activities for the commemorative celebration in 1992. As the Commemoration Committee CoDirector Bernard Ouziel commented at the Southern Regional Conference Luncheon:
"The commemoration is a beacon of brotherhood and friendship, which will teach about freedom and fight ignorance. We are embarking on a wondrous adventure in international fellowship with a specific focus of educating our coreligionists, as well as all Americans."
ATA-USA, Winter 1989
Saving Jews Throughout History
Details on Turkish actions during the Inquisition:
SULTAN II BAYEZID (Born) 1447 - (Deceased) 1512 CE
During the years 1490 to 1497 Sultan Bayezid II accepted the exiled Jews from Italy, Spain and Portugal. In 1492 Kemal Reis and his fleet were sent to Cadiz to take the Jews in charge. During the reign of Bayezid II, the king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, signed an edict of expulsion for the Jews. The edict was issued under the pressure of the church on the 31st of March 1492 and the Jews had to leave the country until the 2nd of August 1492. The last lot of Jews gathered in the port of Cadiz faced a dilemma: Those who left port were attacked by the pirates, those who went on land were burned at the stake by the inquisition. About a thousand people waited in anguish. At the last minute arrived a small fleet manned by the Turkish admiral Kemal Reis who took the refugees under his protection. Thus organizing a convoy of Jewish immigrants towards the Ottoman empire. Of the approximately 600,000 Spanish Jews, half were baptized, 100,000 went to Portugal, some went to the Netherlands, Italy, North Africa and the New World. But, the biggest lot reached the Ottoman Empire, numbering about 150,000 people. When the Jews who went to Portugal were exiled too in 1497, a big majority of them found refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Whereas the migration of forcibly converted Jews to Ottoman lands lasted several decades. In 1501 he accepted the Jews who fled from France. At a later period, the Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin who went to Brazil were tracked by the inquisition who persecuted and compelled them to emigrate to New Amsterdam, today's New York. The immigrants met in the Ottoman Empire about 50,000 Romaniot, Karaite and Ashkenazi Jews. The Jews which may have entered Anatolia following the collapse of the Khazars; those who may have followed Alp Arslan after his entry to Anatolia and the communities which existed in the south-east since ancient times are not part of the estimated figures.
==================
Yavuz Sultan Selim who abrogated the Roman edict of no return has to be honored as the Sultan who paved the way for today's Israel.
The above are notes from a list of other Turkish actions regarding the Jews; it wasn't only during the Inquisition period when Turks came to the rescue of the Jews. More may be read at: sephardicstudies.org/sultans1.html
Views of Some Turkish Jews Today
Still, I worried that my view of Turkey and the Turks might be too sanguine. So I sought out Turkish Jews and quizzed them at length about the difficulties they face, living in an overwhelmingly Muslim country but again I came up empty. Like their Muslim counterparts, Turkish Jews weren't shy about spelling out their country's faults their diagnosis was, in fact, exactly the same: Most of our politicians are bums. But they all insisted that they had no special problems as Jews, because there was no anti-Semitism in Turkey. "Sure," they acknowledged, "there were instances of discrimination in the past, notably, the special taxes that wiped out so much Jewish wealth in Turkey in the 1940s but those taxes were imposed on all Turkish minorities, wiping out Greeks and Armenians too, in a perfectly even-handed way. And since then, we've had no problems here that other Turks don't share." "Well," I said, "there was that incident in 1984 when terrorists burst into Istanbul's Neva Shalom synagogue and mowed down 22 worshippers." "Yes," my informants said, "but those men spoke Arabic, not Turkish."
From "Don't Call Them Arabs: Ramadan in Istanbul," by Barbara Lerner, Chicago writer, psychologist, and attorney; January 30, 2002, National Review article
Holdwater: contrast with treatment of Jews in today's Armenia ... assuming any are left, these days.
A Sweet Little Story
A STORY ABOUT TOLERANCE FROM EDIRNE
The year was 1971 and we were five Jewish students in the first year of Edirne Lisesi (high school). That day we were going to have oral test in the Turkish literature class. We were distressed because just the previous day we the Jews celebrated a very important religious holiday and we had spent all day in the synagogue and we were unable to study for this exam properly.
While we kept worrying, the teacher, who was a Turk born and raised in Russia and graduated from the Moscow University, entered to the class room. She took her place and before doing anything else, she first looked at us and then to the other students and gave us this speech; " Friends, as you know today you will be tested orally. I am sure you had studied well, but I know that our Jewish friends couldn't because they just had the holiday of Yom Kippur yesterday. They starved all day long and prayed in their temple. I remember my childhood and because I was raised in a communist country I never celebrated my Muslim holidays. I used to have very important exams in the Ramadan holiday. With your permission I want to exempt our Jewish friends from today's exam". We the Jewish students were relieved and admired this teachers' tolerance towards us.
This memory I shared with you is only one of the many examples which shows how the Turks are tolerant to other religions.
-- Moiz Bayer (Bayarbagcioglu)
"WHO SAID THAT ALL JEWS WERE INTELLIGENT AND WELL-INFORMED"? (J. E. Botton)
Holdwater: J.E. Botton is a Sephardic who appears to me as wanting to knock some sense into his fellow Jews, who can too easily be found in the anti-Turkish camp. Here is another quote from the fabulous Dr. Botton that unenlightened Jews may do well to bear in mind.
Mahmut Esat Ozan
The Turkish Forum
I am obliged to write this answer because my name and some of my thoughts were implicated in the letters coming from Messrs Alvaro Guevara y Vasquez, and Mr. Samuel Hassid. [Presumably Jewish in origin or sympathizers as such]
Gentlemen, You have grossly misinterpreted the statement I had made recently to Mr. Alan Keyes of the MSNBC program "ALAN KEYES IS MAKING SENSE." In a letter I sent Mr. Keyes I said the following: "I have not a single drop of Jewish or Christian blood in my veins, nor am I a person of color. I am a Turk, yet, I adore Alan...."
You people thought perhaps that I was bragging for being devoid of those ethnic backgrounds mentioned in my letter. It was not so! I was merely explaining to Alan Keyes that despite the fact that I had no blood relationship with any of the aforementioned three distinct races I was still rooting for Israel.
Mr. Hassid, your statement which said that you were sorry to correct "two small points" committed by my my good friend and schoolmate Dr. Jacques Botton, of Lynchburg, Va.is in itself quite erroneous. First, your contention that some of the inhabitants of Asia Minor are not even 'Minor-Asians' but Balkanians (greeks, serbians, bosnians, bulgarians, albanians etc.) [Your spelling]. That statement should be corrected. Those people who were forced to migrate to Anatolia were the remnants of Muslim Ottoman Turks who lived in those areas for centuries as Turkish colonizers.
One may ask you why the Israelis give to a myriad of black Ethiopians and to many Yemenites the appellation of "Jew "? What makes them Jews? It is not their color, but their beliefs make them Jews. Secondly, Bernard Lewis whom you prefer over to Stanford Shaw has said the very same words Shaw has been saying all these years. They are both astute historians, knowledgeable on the subject of Ottoman Muslim verities. Neither one of the two has received in the past, nor do they receive presently any remuneration from the Turks.
Furthermore, please be advised that I will not allow you to put words in my mouth saying that I was 'proud of not having any Jewish blood.' I never entertained such a racist notion. You are responsible for telling the world that my innocent statement was manipulated by your ungrateful attitude towards the Turks. Our ancestors opened not only the gates of their vast Ottoman Empire to the Spanish and Portuguese Jews but more importantly they opened their hearts to them, and they performed that magnanimous act at a time when no Christian nation in Europe, or for that matter no one else in the world was willing to accept them into their frontiers even for temporary transitional purposes.
It was the Turkish Sultan Beyazid II who ordered naval ships to pick up these severely discriminated helpless human beings during the Spanish Inquisition, and transport them free of charge to wherever they wished to settle in their immense Ottoman Turkish territory.
I hate to sound like a broken record on this subject, but cataloguing all these historical truths and bringing them out in the open seems to be necessary here. Also needed to add are the rescue operations performed by the Turks during the Second World War by officially reclaiming even non-Turkish citizen Jews on the Island of Rhodes as Turks, and saving them from Hitler's death squads. I'm compelled to question the reasons behind the unfathomable zeal with which you display your bias against the Turks. I may even go further and find the whole thing bordering on the limits of something called "ingratitude."
I would like to inform you that there is another person such as yourself who has been parroting similar views you espouse when it comes to the tolerant, and generous Turks. Unfortunately, he, too, has misspoken in his preposterous statements. His name is Alvaro Guevara y Vasquez, and the following is the statement he made verbatim: " If we (the Jews) have been accepted by many countries of the Diaspora, during the great purges against Jews in Europe, it has been in the interest of those countries, not because of justice and moral obligation.!"
I urge you, Senor Alvaro Guevara y Vasquez, please to read one of the previous paragraphs where I indicated that during those "great purges" you mentioned, no country, I mean NO Christian country had accepted the Jews. If you still insist on asking me the question of "How then Jews are found in several parts of Europe and the Mediterranean countries today."? my answer would be very simple. This situation is owed to the fact that the vast Ottoman Empire used to possess those lands it had acquired by shedding Turkish blood on the battlefields following several wars during the long history of the empire. This action of theirs was similar to something akin to the conquests of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the exploits of the now defunct British Empire. Ensuing the dissolution of the said Ottoman Empire the Jews, who were dispersed to various parts of it simply became a part of the new nations which were created from that dissolution. Allow me to illustrate a point:
I once had a chance and rare privilege for conducting a brief interview with Dr. Edward Teller, the world renowned physicist and the father of the Hydrogen bomb. This event took place in Miami, Florida in 1986. A Jew himself, he was very pleasant to me after he was told that I was a journalist of Turkish extraction. During our question and answer period he turned to another physicist sitting at the head of the table, his host and a long time colleague and friend Dr. B. Kursunoglu: "Behram," he said, "you know I am from Hungary. Let me tell you that Hungarians owe a great deal to the Turks, the ancestors of the two of you." Turning toward me once more, he added: "After the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent brought a sense of social and political stability and above all, some notions of civilization to Hungary." I learned from him later on, that his family had been living in that Ottoman Turkish land for hundreds of years.
With the statement he had made that day, Dr. Edward Teller wasn't too far from the truth. Hungary, plus a part of Austria, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, parts of Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and what is known as Ukraine today were all parts of the old Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, all those territories plus from Morocco to the Holy Land and the entire Middle East were governed under the jurisdiction of the Turks. This was a social, economic, political and military governance and it lasted successfully over four hundred years. Without a doubt, the Ottoman Turkish mpire was the super power of its day. Therefore, Senor Alvaro Guevara y Vasquez, this is how it is possible today to find Jews in all parts of European continent, in the Mediterranean countries as well as in the Middle East.
In fact it is interesting to note here that during the 16th century, parts of the newly conquered lands comprised the JUDEA and SUMERIA of biblical times. The Sultan of that time made an offer to the Jewish community and wanted to know if the Jews of Turkey would like to take possession of those lands. But the Turkish Sultan heard from the Turkish Jews telling him the following, in paraphrased form:
"Thank you, your Imperial Majesty, we are extremely grateful for your most kind offer. Nevertheless, we the Jews of our country of Turkey have been living here for over one hundred years. Generation after generation we have been very comfortable and secure here in Turkey. We beseech you to understand us for not wanting to go anywhere else...."
Turkish people have never denied nor have forgotten the great benefits they derived from their fellow Jewish citizens of Turkey. They were grateful to them for the many attributes you, Sir, have enumerated in your words pertaining to qualities such as their ability to acquire great wealth, their undisputed knowledge of commerce, trades of all kinds, and their deep Judaic culture. In fact it was the Turkish Jews who brought the first 'printing press' to Turkey, and made huge fortunes as a result of this, not only for themselves but also for the Muslim subjects of the empire, by sharing this richness with them.
Jews in Turkey encountered no governmental obstacles in their new land, whether it was in the fields of religion, language, or arts. The fact that most Jews of Turkey today could speak fluently 'LADINO', the language of the 15th century Sapharad (Spain), makes a favorable testimonial for their friends, the Turks. Dear Senor, the concept of fairness and of tolerance inherent in the Turks, which you attempted to ignore in your statement, was unfair, and unacceptable. The 509 year-old friendship between the Turks and the Jewish people is none other than an indelible mark etched in the hearts and souls of both Turks and the Sephardic Jews.
Loyalty to the Ottoman Empire
Debates in the Hebrew Press
Loyalty to the Ottoman Empire
The two main themes on which ha-Herut writers wanted to focus in the Arabic newspapers were: Jewish loyalty to the Ottoman Empire and possible Jewish contribution to the advancement of Palestine, for the benefit of all inhabitants, Arab or Jew.
The first issue is exemplified in various ways: during the Balkan wars, for example, the newspaper expressed its concern over the weakening of the Empire and the future of the reforms promised by the CUP. In an article dated 9 September 1912, a ha-Herut writer objected to the internal divisions and rivalries within the Empire caused by the rivalry between the CUP and the decentralist forces, claiming that they were weakening the Empire while its external enemies - the Christians, who were also perceived as the enemies of the Jews and Muslims in the Empire. The writer then declared that the Jews were loyal Ottoman citizens, who were willing to sacrifice everything to ensure the Empire's continued success and health.28 This same spirit of loyalty is reflected in another article, which describes the attitude towards Jews of the Christian-owned newspapers in Palestine:
We hate the homeland? Is there any other people who were more loyal, caring and devoted to the Empire than the Jewish people [A'm Israel, in Hebrew]? Do we, who have sacrificed so much for the country, hate the homeland?29
These efforts to prove Jewish loyalty to the Ottoman homeland appeared again a few years later in response to the CUP's loosening of regulations on Jewish immigration to Palestine. In an article dated April 1914, the newspaper enthusiastically encouraged Jews in Palestine to adopt Ottoman citizenship:
It is not enough that the majority of the inhabitants in Palestine is Jewish. The important factor is that the number of Jews who live in Palestine would be Ottoman. This is the main basis for our settlement in the country, and the essence of our success....30
Ottomanization was also perceived as another means of convincing the Arab population to drop their objection to Jewish immigration to Palestine.31 In the same 1914 article, the newspaper argued:
...we came here to live and revive the land as Ottoman citizens, to fill the duties that this citizenship requires us, and to enjoy the rights that this citizenship provides us... We would like to work side by side with our neighbors for the promotion of our country...32
Ottoman citizenship was perceived as the most important component of the Jewish identity, which should define the future of the Jewish Yishuv, as well as the future relations with Arabs living in Palestine - a view that seems unique to the Sephardi community.33
The other topic that ha-Herut sought to express in the Arab press was the argument that the Jewish community in Palestine could develop the country both culturally and economically. It was a somewhat paternalistic approach, presenting the Jewish population as more advanced and sophisticated than the Arab population.
In a series of articles (17, 18, and 19 September 1913), ha-Herut claimed, since the start of Jewish immigration to Palestine in the late nineteenth century, the cultural and economic levels of Palestine had changed vastly, with benefits to the Arab population. Jewish farmers had developed new agricultural and mechanical techniques, species of plants and irrigation methods, and remedies for pests and diseases. Following the immigration of prominent Jewish physicians from Europe, the level of medicine improved. Jewish residents of Palestine, most of them Ottoman citizens, represented the country in academic conferences around the world. The education system grew, with the addition of the first technological university in the Empire (the Technikum), as well as a teacher's seminar, art institutions, and music schools.34
The article series argued that these developments benefited not only the inhabitants of Palestine, Jews as well as Arabs, but also the Ottoman government, who profited from taxes and gained in loyal and skilled bureaucrats, as Jews joined the Ottoman administration.35 For all these reasons, ha-Herut believed that the advancement of the Jewish community in Palestine would lead to the advancement of the Arab community of the country, as well as the Ottoman Empire.
The distinction between Christians and Muslims in ha-Herut
As mentioned above, the Sephardi writers made a clear distinction between Muslim and Christian Arabs; the latter were perceived as "the worst enemies" who incited the Muslims against the Zionist movement. These accusations were based on articles that appeared in various Arabic newspapers, mainly the Christian-owned al-Karmil and Filastin in Palestine and Muslim-owned al-Muqtabas in Syria.36
The Sephardi Jews were not the only ones to label Christians as enemies: Arthur Ruppin also held the Christians responsible for the hatred of Jews and the ongoing opposition to Jewish immigration. Ruppin blamed it on the religious education that the Christian population got in Jesuit schools, which encouraged hatred of Jews.37 But was this distinction between Muslims and Christians justified? Were the Christian-owned newspapers really more aggressive towards the Jews than the Muslim-owned ones? Why did the Sephardi Jews in particular make this point?
This distinction was a common theme with several writers.38 In his book The Arabs and Zionism before World War I, Neville Mandel claims that a newspaper's attitude towards Zionism was related to the religion of its editor. Basing his conclusions on reports about the Arab press issued by the Palestinian Office in Jaffa, and written mainly by Nissim Malul, Manel argues that there was an additional correlation between the attitude towards Zionism and the CUP. Referring mainly to newspapers published in Damascus and Beirut, Mandel says that anti-CUP newspapers were edited by Muslims and expressed anti-Zionist views, whereas pro-CUP newspapers were edited by Christians and were either friendly or neutral towards Zionism.39
In Palestinian Identity - The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, Rashid Khalidi discusses this argument at length and, following a careful survey of ten newspapers from Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, he opposes Mandel's view. Khalidi claims that, apart from one exception (the Egyptian al-Muqattam), all newspapers surveyed expressed anti-Zionists attitudes.40
Khalidi also objects to Mandel's linkage of attitudes towards the CUP and attitudes towards the Zionist movement. In the case of the Palestinian Christian newspaper al-Karmil, Khalidi tracks the change in the editor's position on the CUP from a positive position between 1908-1909 to an opposing view by 1911; he proves, however, that there was no change in the newspaper's position on the Jews and the Zionist movement. Both al-Karmil and Filastin were edited by Christians and were strong opponents of Zionism.41
In a 1914 review of the Arab press published in the Jewish ha-Schiloah newspaper, Malul argued a similar view.42 He divided the Arab newspapers in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria into four groups, according to their attitudes towards the Jews and the Zionist movement: the "free papers," which disregard the issue; the "medium papers," which do not express their own views but print various articles that oppose or support the question; "extremist papers," which strongly oppose the Zionist movement and the Jews; and "protector papers," which support the Jews. After checking the religious affiliation of the editor or owner of the newspapers, Malul concluded that there was no clear-cut correlation between the religious affiliation and the attitude of the newspaper towards the Jews: among the 15 "extremists papers," 11 were Muslims and only four Christians. Among the seven Palestinian newspapers, Christian newspapers were both "free" (like al-Quds and al-Akhbar) and "extremist" Christian papers (al-Karmil and Filastin). The only Muslim-owned newspaper checked in Palestine, al-I'tidal, was considered a "free newspaper."
Malul concluded that not all the Christian newspapers were against the Jewish Yishuv, whereas not all the Muslim papers supported it. Nonetheless, he still claimed that the Christians were indeed the main opponents of the Zionist movement.43
Based on the newspapers, then, it seems that there was no real justification for the distinction between the Christians and Muslims. However, it existed in the eyes of the Sephardim. How can this be explained?
One explanation has to do with the life experience of the Sephardi Jews, for while Jews and Muslims were closely linked to each other in the daily life, the Christians were always more remote - as is evident from Jacob Yehoshua's various descriptions of the life in Jerusalem.44 However, another explanation could also be related to the Ottoman identity held by the Sephardi Jews, as well to the external condition of the Ottoman Empire in the period under discussion.
As described above, the Sephardi community placed great importance on its Ottoman identity and its loyalty to the Empire, and writers in ha-Herut tried to encourage the Ashkenazi immigrants to adopt Ottoman citizenship and abandon their foreign ones. During the period discussed in this article, mainly between 1912-1914, the Ottoman Empire faced many challenges, external as well as internal. The two Balkan wars, and the loss of most of its Christian territories, shook the Empire's stability. The conflict was also extremely harsh for the Empire's Muslim inhabitants, most of whom lost their homes and became refugees. The wars also signaled a growing tension between Muslims and Christians within the Empire, with Christians perceived as sympathizers of Europe, and sometimes collaborators.
In his book, Mandel claims that, despite the religious tensions in the larger Empire, Muslims and Christians in Palestine became closer through their common objection to the Jewish immigration.45 However, based the data collected, it seems that this was not the view held by the Sephardi community. It is thus suggested that growing anti-Christian sentiment throughout the Empire influenced the Sephardi population in Palestine, who also developed hostile feelings towards Christians. As loyal Ottoman citizens, the Sephardim viewed the Christians as part of the general betrayal process in the Empire that took place during the Balkan Wars.
Moreover, the Sephardi resentment towards the Christian Arabs can also be explained by the collective experience of Ottoman Jews in the Empire. Throughout the years, the Christian communities in the Empire had persecuted and competed with the Jews for economic, religious and ethnic reasons. The Jews perceived Ottoman rule as the best protector against Christian anti-Semitism and sought its protection when the Empire lost its European territories.46 The Christians also enjoyed the protection and assistance of the western powers, which the Ottoman Empire perceived as imperialists. Thus, the Sephardim's reaction towards the Christians was influenced by this larger historical context.
The preceding was from Jerusalem Quarterly File
THE JEWISH MILLET IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Professor Stanford Shaw
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
It was only with the establishment of the Ottoman Empire in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East starting in the 14th century that Jewish refugees from Christian persecution found the kind of tolerance and freedom that enabled them to prosper without fear. As a result, those Jews who had survived in Byzantine Constantinople and Asia Minor did everything they could to contribute to Ottoman success, particularly during the sieges which led to the Ottoman conquests of the centers of Byzantine administrative and economic life in Asia Minor and Thrace, Bursa and Constantinople. The Ottoman rulers very quickly contrasted the support provided by Jews in the conquered Byzantine territories with the hostility manifested by the conquered Greeks and Armenians, who from the earliest days of Ottoman rule attempted to stimulate European Crusades to rescue them from the domination of Islam. Insofar as the Ottomans were concerned, therefore, they trusted and relied on their Jewish subjects far more than on the Christians. The Ottomans therefore preferred to use Jews wherever possible to develop the trade and commerce of their new empire. In return for their support, Ottoman Jewry received rewards from the sultans, including not only toleration and ability to pursue their own lives and religious practices without any of the restrictions which had so limited their lives in Christian Europe, and protection against Christian attacks, but also encouragement for their co-religionists remaining in western Europe to emigrate into the lands of the Ottoman Turks.
The 16th century Jewish historian, Eliyahu Kapsali, writing in Crete, attributed the collapse of the Byzantine Empire and its conquest by the Ottomans directly to the Byzantine persecution of the Jews:
Pass through the gateways of this book, turn to the way of God, study its tales, read and see that God, in His wisdom and understanding, rendered this Turkish nation great.... The Turks is the rod of His wrath, the staff of His anger, and by means of Him He takes His vengeance of the gentle nations and tongues and states whose time has come.
Following the Ottoman conqueror of Byzantine Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II 'The Conqueror' (Fatih) encouraged the persecuted Jews of Germany and Spain and elsewhere in Western Europe to immigrate into his Empire, using for this purpose the Chief Rabbi of Edirne (Adrianople), Isaac Tzarfati, who himself had fled from persecution in southern Germany earlier in the century, sending Tzarfati's appeal to his fellow Jews to join him in the dominions of the sultan:
Your cries and sobs have reached us. We have been told of all the troubles and persecutions which you have to suffer in the German lands.... I hear the lamentation of my brethren.... The barbarous and cruel nation ruthlessly oppresses the faithful children of the chosen people..... The priests and prelates of Rome have risen. They wish to root out the memory of Jacob and erase the name of Israel. They always devise new persecutions. They wish to bring you to the stake.... Listen my brothers, to the counsel I will give you. A too was born in Germany and studied Torah with the German rabbis. I was driven out of my native country and came to the Turkish land, which is blessed by God and filled with all good things. Here I found rest and happiness. Turkey can also become for you the land of peace.... If you who live in Germany knew even a tenth of what God has blessed us with in this land, you would not consider any difficulties. You would set out to come to us.... Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes. Much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed with heavy taxes, and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap, and every one of us lives in peace and freedom. Here the Jew is not compelled to wear a yellow hat as a badge of shame, as is the case in Germany, where even wealth and great fortune are a curse for a Jew because he therewith arouses jealousy among the Christians and they devise all kinds of slander against him to rob him of his gold. Arise my brothers, gird up your loins, collect your forces, and come to us. Here you will be free of your enemies, here you will find rest.
Capsali relates how Sultan Bayezid II (1481-1512) sent out his own invitations to the Jews of Spain as soon as he learned of their expulsion at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition:
So the Sultan Bayezid, King of Turkey, heard of all the evil that the Spanish king had brought upon the Jews and heard that they were seeking a refuge and resting place. He took pity on them and wrote letters and sent emissaries to proclaim throughout his kingdom that none of his city rulers should be wicked enough to refuse entry to Jews or to expel them. Instead, they were to be given a gracious welcome, and anyone who did not behave in this matter would be put to death.... Sultan Bayezid, king of Turkey, having learned of all the evil that the King of Spain did to the Jews, who were seeing a place of refuge, had pity on them and ordered his country to greet them well, and he ordered the same thing for the island of Chios, which had been paying a tribute to him....
Just as Sultan Mehmed gathered the Jews living in other communities and brought them to live with him in Costantinople and said: 'Come and shelter in my shade as we have written,' similarly his son, this Sultan Bayezid, treated the seed of Abraham, servants of God, well,... and did not cast them out from before him as some of the Gentile Kings did to us.... Were it not for this, the remnant of Judah and traces of Israel, exiled from Spain and Aragon and Portugal and Sicily by the unsheathed sword of the wicked King of Spain, would have been lost....
Even before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and its transformation into the Ottoman capital Istanbul, therefore, and increasingly afterwards for another two centuries, the Ottoman Empire became the principal object of immigration for the persecuted Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, to whom were added the flood of exiles from Spain and Portugal and of the Spanish Jews who had converted to Christianity (Marranos), but who still were persecuted by the Inquisition in the early decades of the 16th century, as well as those found in the Middle East as it was incorporated into the empire at the same time.
These Jewish immigrants settled all over the expanding Ottoman empire, in the lands that today are the states of Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Cyprus and the other Aegean and Mediterranean islands and in what is now Turkey at Bursa, Gallipoli, Manisa, Ã?zmir, Tokat and Amasya. Some also went to the east Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Patras and Corfu, but with their native Greek populations remaining substantial majorities, they were not as welcome as in those areas of the new Empire in which Muslims dominated society. For the most part, however, the newly arriving Jews settled down where there were substantial Muslim populations, in the Ottoman capital Istanbul, in the capital of Ottoman Thrace Edirne (Adrianople), along the Macedonian shores of the Aegean at Salonica, and in the Holy Land, particularly at Jerusalem and Safed, in total numbers estimated at from 150,000 to 200,000 people, far more than the 30,000 Jews then living in Poland and Lithuania. Ottoman Turkish Jewry thus constituted by far the largest and most prosperous Jewish community in the world at that time, a period that came to constitute the Golden Age of Ottoman Jewry.
Thanks to ottoman-research.com
CHRISTIAN ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Professor Stanford Shaw
"Blood libel accusations were made against Jews by Ottoman Christian subjects starting in the sixteenth century, most frequently in the Arab provinces, first at Jerusalem in 1546. The most famous Christian assault on Ottoman Jews in medieval times came in the central Anatolian town of Amasya some time between 1530 and 1540, when a blood-libel accusation against local Jews was spread by local Armenians who said that an Armenian woman had seen Jews slaughter a young Armenian boy and use his blood at the feast of Passover. Several days of rioting and pillaging and attacks on Jews followed...Later, however, the Armenian boy who supposedly had been murdered was found and the Ottoman governor punished the Armenian accusers, though nothing could be done about the Jews who had suffered." [1]
"There were literally thousands of incidents in subsequent years, invariably resulting from accusations spread among Greeks and Armenians by word of mouth, or published in their newspapers, often by Christian financiers and merchants who were anxious to get the Jews out of the way, resulting in isolated and mob attacks on Jews, and burning of their shops and homes [2]. The attacks were brutal and without mercy. Women, children, and aged Jewish men were frequently attacked, beaten and often killed."[3]
[1] Stanford J. Shaw, "Christian Anti-Semitism in the Ottoman Empire", Belleten C. LIV, 68, p.1103 (1991).
[2] Abraham Ben-Yakob (Jerusalem), "The Immigration of Iraki Jews to the Holy Land in the 19th Century", paper delivered to the First International Congress for the Study of Sephardic and Oriental Judaism, 27 June 1978.
[3] Stanford J. Shaw, "Christian Anti-Semitism in the Ottoman Empire", Belleten C. LIV, 68, p.1129 (1991)
Merci to tetedeturc.com
Fanatical Greeks in 1902 Harass the Ottoman Jews
The leader of the Ashkenazi community of Corlu complained to the president of AIU [Alliance Israelite Universelle] in
1902 about persistent Greek attacks against its Jewish quarter:
'The fanatic Greeks of our city, as of other places in Thrace, have the habit of, contrary to the spirit of real Christianity, making a replica of Judas Iscariote and of burning it on the night of Holy Saturday. They construct a wooden figure, cover it with clothing which they claim is that of the ancient Jews, and they burn it publicly in the middle of a multitude of the ignorant and the fanatic. It often happens that this multitude, already excited by the tales of the suffering of Christ that has been made to them at the Church, is exulted at the appearance of the execution of he who is supposed to have betrayed Christ, and works up a great anger against the Jews...For a long time we have known that each year, on such a day, they will cut off the heads and arms of the corpses in our cemetery and will burn them with great solemnity. We
make no complaint about this in order not to create differences between the two communities. But this audacious madness of these fanatics has increased. We ourselves see the flames and hear the cries of hatred and vengeance against the Jews.'[42]"
[42] Ashkenazi Community, Corlu, to AIU no.8783, 2 May 1902, in AIU Archives (Paris) II C 8, with report printed in El
Tiempo of 1 May 1902.
Source: Professor Stanford J. Shaw, 'The Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic,' New York University
Press, New York (1991), Page 203
--------------------------
A little anti-Semitic episode just outside the boundaries of the Empire:
One famous hold-out from the Ottoman Empire was the island of Rhodes, especially against the forces of Mehmed the Conqueror in 1479-80. Pierre D'Aubusson, grand master of the military-religious Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Knights of St. John), gained fame for this accomplishment, and when he betrayed Prince Jem (Cem), brother of Mehmed's successor Bayezid II (by imprisoning him instead of granting the refuge he promised), Pope Innocent VIII made Aubusson a cardinal in 1489. Not long after, the pseudo-Christian overtly eliminated Judaism from the island by expelling all adult Jews and forcibly baptizing their children. (Bayezid II was the sultan who accepted the Jews fleeing the Spanish and Portugese Inquisitions around this time, when every other European nation, save for the city of Amsterdam, slammed their doors in the faces of the Jewish people.)
In the Days Before the Ottoman Empire...
Constantinople's Armenians Join the Greeks in Attacking the Jews for the First Time
"Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus, in about 935, again ordered the forcible conversion of all the Jews of Byzantium, leading to the murder of hundreds of Jews and the desecration of many synagogues throughout the empire. All the while Jews came under increasingly savage attack by Byzantine popular preachers and writers as well as by officials trying to stir the populace in support of the Crusading knights coming from the West to wrest the Holy Land from the 'infidel Muslims'. As a result, Emperor Andronicus I Comnenus(1183-85) again attempted to convert the
Jews to Christianity, though by persuasion and argument rather than force. When Crusaders passed through Constantinople on their way to the Holy Land, they invariably were assigned to camp next to the Jewish quarters, particularly that adjacent to the Galata Tower, and usually spent most of their spare time attacking and killing Jews and stealing their properties. At the same time they stirred local populace to similar activities. It was at this time, also, that Constantinople's Armenians joined the Greeks in attacking Judaism for the first time."
Source: Yvonne Friedman, 'Antijudischen Polemik des 12 jahrhunderts', Kairos XXVI/1-2 (1984), 80-88.
Thanks to: Han Mutlu
Holdwater's "Jewish Reflections"
Holdwater: Unfortunately, many Jews are totally ignorant of the great deeds of one of their very, very few historic good friends. Their ignorance and prejudice helps a good number to accept at face value whatever their "fellow genocide sufferers" (the beloved Armenians) tell them.
There are various other spots in TAT where I did not shy away from criticizing the Jews for what I also view as (if I may use Professor Ozan's word, from his essay above) "ingratitude," and irresponsibility/ignorance (Elie Wiesel) and hypocrisy/dishonesty (Israel Charny). The charge of "anti-Semitism" is often not far behind criticism of the Jews, and if anybody out there in Web land believes that's where I am coming from.... you would be very much mistaken.
(For example... from the same essay above, Prof. Ozan was criticized by a couple of likely Jewish persons, undoubtedly believing Prof. Ozan was anti-Semitically knocking the Jews... although the perceived sleight was absurdly taken out of context and out-of-bounds. The irony is, from his other writings, I know Prof. Ozan is an ardent cheerleader for the Jewish people.)
Below are some of the other spots on this site where reflections on the Chosen People reside. Beware of information overlapping.
Elie Wiesel (and below "Elie," Andrew Goldberg)
Jews for Armenians
Holdwater Reflects on Armenian-Loving Jews
Yossi Sarid, Israel's Minister of Education
"Genocide scholar" Israel W. Charny
New York Times columnist William Safire, in Turks and Israelis
By Andrew Sackser:
Throughout history the children of Israel have suffered at hands of others. A people set apart from their neighbors by their faith, countless. Jews have often had to pay for this faith with their lives. There was, however, one haven where Jews did not suffer the large-scale persecution characterizing their entire existence. This haven was Turkey. For over five hundred years Jews have flourished there, enjoying relatively uninterrupted freedom and safety that has only been rivaled in America. This year marks the quincentennial anniversary of the ingathering of Jews to Turkey, and highlights one of the brighter chapters in Jewish history.
...
Source: HIRHURIM - The Jewish Magazine of Brendeis University
(Massachusetts). Vol. 1, No: 2, Spring 1992
Ottoman Sultans and Their Jewish Subjects
sephardicstudies.org/sultans1.html
Turkey's Role as Savior of Many Jews
Turkey has had a long history of protecting Jews; precisely why the nation's Sephardic Jewish population was loyal until the end. Here are a few examples of how Turkish diplomats lent a much needed hand to Jews during the dark days of the Second World War.
Holocaust Survivor Says Turkish Muslim Saved His, Other Jews' Lives
Rudi Williams, American Forces Press Service, WASHINGTON, April 23, 2002—As a child on the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea, Bernard Turiel remembers listening to his parents and their
friends talk about Jews being executed in concentration camps in Germany and Europe. Turiel remembers the horror stories about Jewish people's skin being made into lampshades and their bones being used to make soap. "These kinds of discussions left a fear and horrid impression on all of us," he said.
Turiel survived the Holocaust, he said, thanks to Turks on Rhodes and because he and his family were Turkish citizens. During "Honoring the Turkish Rescuers," a special program held recently
at Washington's Lincoln Theater, he talked about his World War II childhood experiences and how a Muslim saved his family and many others.
Rhodes today is Greek. From 1912 until 1945, however, the Aegean island, just off the southwestern coast of Turkey, was an Italian possession.
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini joined Germany in the war in 1940 and invited his ally to garrison troops in Italy and its possessions, including Rhodes, Turiel said.
He said the island in the 1920s and 30s had a flourishing Jewish community of about 5,500 Jews out of a population of about 35,000. Although many Jews fled in the 1930s, those who remained on Rhodes were harassed by the Italian administration but relatively safe until Mussolini was deposed in July 1943 and Italy's provisional government declared an armistice with the Allies. The Germans used the confusion to overwhelm their one-time allies and seize control the Italians' "empire" in September 1943, he added.
"When the Germans took over, the adult males were asked to report to the headquarters offices," Turiel said. "That created great concern as to what was going to happen." The men were told to
register and go home. This created a sense of relief, but also one of false security. When the Germans began rounding up Rhodes' Jewish community in July 1944, the men reported to the German headquarters again, Turiel said, but this time they were immediately incarcerated. Turiel and his father and brother were among the incarcerated. Two days after being detained, the men were standing in line waiting for transport to the continent and a concentration camp, Turiel recalled.
Selahattin Ulkumen, from DESPERATE HOURS
Selahattin Ulkumen, from DESPERATE HOURS
Enter 30-year-old Turkish Consul Selahattin Ulkumen, who approached the German general in charge and demanded that all Turkish subjects be released. He went further, demanding the spouses of Turkish citizens be released, invoking Turkish law that anyone married to a Turk is a Turk. The Germans assented.
Ulkumen was playing a dangerous game. He bluffed the Germans — there was no such law. "He was fully aware of the dangers for the Jewish community in Europe and made a valiant effort to save as many Jews as possible, including non-Turkish citizens," Turiel said. "He told my mother to go home and that our father would be released. My brother and I had acquired Turkish citizenship and had dual citizenship."
Ulkumen's bold personal action is credited with saving 42 families. But his bluff didn't go unanswered. The Germans bombed his home in retaliation. His wife, nine months' pregnant, was seriously injured and died of her wounds while giving birth to the couple's son, Mehmet. Turiel said 643 of Rhodes' Jews were deported to Auschwitz; all but 151 were exterminated or died in the labor camps.
Ulkumen left Rhodes in August 1944 when Turkey ended diplomatic relations with Germany. Again, Jewish men were ordered to report to German authorities, Turiel noted. Only a handful still lived on the island. Turiel said the island was isolated, and the Germans by this time seemed more concerned about survival than victory.
"They permitted us to eventually leave the island in January 1945," said Turiel, a lawyer, who worked for the Federal Trade Commission from 1959 to 1966. He's now an attorney in private
practice in northern New Jersey.
The Turiels left Rhodes for Turkey in January 1945 and emigrated to the United States in July 1946. Turiel's father joined his two brothers in their import-export business.
Turiel told the Lincoln Theater audience that Ulkumen was a man of great determination, courage and compassion. On June 11, 1988, the Anti-Defamation League presented Ulkumen its fourth annual "Courage to Care" award.
"He was brought to New York for the presentation and we were reunited with him," Turiel noted. "My mother maintained correspondence with him over the years."
Selahattin Ulkumen
Selahattin Ulkumen (1914-2003)
In June 1990, Ulkumen was installed on the Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles at the Yad Vashem in Israel. "What used to be known as the Righteous Christians has been changed to the Righteous Gentiles because Mr. Ulkumen was the first non-Christian to receive the award. He is a Muslim," Turiel noted.
"Mr. Ulkumen will always be remembered as a courageous, compassionate and righteous person," Turiel said. "Today, he's frail and living in an old age home in Turkey."
Turiel said he and his family and other Holocaust survivors are extremely fortunate to have come to the United States.
"We're grateful to live in this wonderful country where our forefathers had the great forbearance to think of the great democratic country and the need for a Bill of Rights," he said. "The Bill of Rights
has provided the type of government and style of life that we enjoy and cherish. We never take it for granted. Having experienced our lives in Europe, we're most grateful to be in such a wonderful
country as the United States."
Web site honoring Mr. Ulkumen: www.ulkumen.net
RESCUE OF EIGHTY JEWISH TURKS
NECDET KENT’S RESCUE OF
EIGHTY TURKISH JEWS IN MARSEILLES, FRANCE
FROM HITLER’S GERMANY
(Editor’s Note: Jak Kamhi, a Turkish Jew, and prominent businessman in Istanbul located Necdet Kent [now a retired ambassador] and obtained his personal account of his rescue of some eighty Turkish Jews in Marseilles, France from Hitler’s Gestapo. This deposition has been translated by Ayhan Özer and is reprinted below as an example of the proud Turkish historical record of saving Jews from persecution and death.)
In 1941, I was assigned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey as Vice-Consul to the city of Marseilles of France. During my tenure I was promoted to the rank of Consul, and I left Marseilles in 1944. In this post I reported to three Consul Generals in the following order: Mr. Bedri Arbel, Mr. Munir Pertev Subay, and Mr. Fuat Carim (All three passed away).
Necdet Kent, from DESPERATE HOURS
Necdet Kent, from DESPERATE HOURS
At that time in France there were two kinds of Turkish Jews. One group consisted of those Jews who came to France at the end of World War I with the French occupation forces in Turkey. Those Jews either did not have any Turkish passport, or even if they did they had expired a long lime ago. The only official document they had possessed was their birth certificate in Arabic script that they had obtained from the Ottoman State. Technically, the Turkish consulates regarded those Jews as “non-citizens”. The French governments before World War II had been lenient on this matter and condoned their situations. As a result, the Jews in this category have never bothered to apply to the Turkish consulates or Embassy to regularize their status. Those in the second category comprised the Jews who had left Turkey with a valid passport, but at the outbreak of World War II they had not returned, and stayed in France. These Jews were regarded as “regular” Turkish citizens.
When Northern France had been occupied by Nazi Germany, along with the indigenous population the Turkish Jews as well made an exodus to the South, and came within our jurisdiction. The French authorities dubbed the non-French refugees as “Repliés” (In English retreated or receded). The situation in the South was far from being comfortable at that time, but when the German troops invaded southern France as well it became oppressive.
As soon as the Nazis took control of the region they began to search for the Jews and made arrangements to transport them to Germany in trains. At this time we received occasional complaints from the Jews who were Turkish citizens, which prompted us to take some action.
We made an appeal to all the Jews to apply to the Consulate in order to legalize their status. If the status of the Jews who had applied to our Consulate was regularized, we immediately issued a certificate of citizenry. If they owned any businesses, stores, etc., we admonished them to display in a prominent place of the premises a notice that we provided. This notice stated that the owner of the establishment was a Turkish citizen, and that the premises and its contents were under the protection of the Republic of Turkey. In the cases where the status of the Jews was not regularized, we asked them to fill out an application form, and issued a temporary certificate as testimony to their Turkish citizenship, which also advised the authorities that the official documents of the person concerned were being processed, and that the permanent papers would soon be issued to replace the interim certificates. These measures proved helpful and protected several Turkish Jews against troubles.
There have been times that our Consulate staff called on the Gestapo headquarters (sometimes three or four times a day) to solicit the release of our Jewish citizens who had been detained. Most of the times these efforts entailed persuasion, but sometimes we had to utter subtle threats to take up the matter with higher authorities. To make matters worse, the Italians as well had started to emulate the Germans and applied similar practices in their regions. At times we had arguments with the Italian consul to persuade him to stop this inhuman treatment of the Jews. I later learned that my efforts had borne fruit to some extent.
In one instance the anti-Jewish obsession manifested by the Gestapo reached dimensions that defied human dignity. For a while the military patrols had started a new practice to identify the Jews. This involved stopping the men whom they had suspected to be Jews right on the street, and making them drop their pants to see whether they were circumcised. This exercise led to the arrest of several Jews, as well as Muslim Turks. Many of them indiscriminately were taken to detention centers for a summary transportation to Germany. To protest and to put a halt to this ill-advised practice, I immediately went to the Gestapo Headquarters, and explained to the commandant that being circumcised had nothing to do with being a Jew. From the empty stare in his eyes I figured that he had not understood what I meant. Thereupon, I requested that a doctor examine me to further clarify my point. This came as a revelation to him, and he agreed to release several people.
The climax of all these efforts, however, came about in a showdown with the Gestapo authorities during a period of time when the Consul General was on leave and away from the office. One night, one of our employees, Sidi Iscan, a Turkish Jew from the city of Izmir, who was at the same time a translator in the consulate came to my home unexpectedly. (Sidi Iscan also passed away). He appeared to be in fear and agitated. In tears, he told me that the Germans had rounded up some 80 Jews in the city and took them to the train. I tried to calm him down, and assured that we would do something about it. We immediately went together to the Gare Saint-Charles, the main train station of Marseilles.
We approached the train and observed the situation for a brief moment. The sight was indeed beyond any imagination. We heard crying and moaning sounds coming from inside the boxcars. Through some partly open sliding doors we saw human beings crammed in the wagons. On the side of the cars I noticed the following words:
“This car holds 20 cattle and 500 kilo of feed.” My anger and desolation were overwhelming. I requested an explanation from the responsible person, whoever he was, for this undertaking. The Gestapo officer in charge came to the scene, and in an overbearing tone he demanded to know the reason for my being there. Restraining myself to remain within the limits of diplomatic courtesy, I told him that there must have been a gross error, a misunderstanding, because those people were Turkish citizens, and I demanded that he rectify this situation immediately. The Gestapo officer told me that he was merely carrying out the order he had received. Besides, he said, he was sure that those people were not Turks, but Jews. From his tone and attitude I sensed that he was adamant and not willing to make any concession.
Necdet Kent
Necdet Kent (1911-2002)
Thereupon, I turned to Sidi Iscan and told him to follow me, and to get on the train, because we were going in that train as well. We proceeded to the train with resolve. The Gestapo chief obviously had not anticipated this move, he tried to convince us to leave the train, but I refused to listen to him. Shortly afterwards the train pulled out slowly from the station. When we arrived in Aries or Nimes the train stopped. We saw a number of German officers getting on the train. They directly came toward me. After a brief and cool exchange of salutation, the highest ranking officer said in an apologetic tone that there had been a misunderstanding when the train departed while we were still on board, and if we left the train at that time they would provide us with transportation (their own Mercedes-Benz) back to Marseilles. It was an intimation to us that we had to accept whatever they offered at that time, and any further concession was beside the point. Yet, on my part I knew that the country I represented was the only hope of those eighty some innocent Jews, and I could not bring myself to see them go to their sinister destiny without exhausting all efforts. With this conviction I maintained that his proposal was unacceptable to us, we had a mission which was to obtain the release of all those innocent Turkish citizens who had been crammed into cattle cars on the ground that they were Jews. This act was against the Turkish traditions which uphold that no humanitarian norms would justify such discrimination, and as a representative of the Turkish Republic my duty was to protect them to the end. This critical argument was carried on in an emotionally charged atmosphere, and was being followed intensely by some Jews in the vicinity. They were aware that the outcome of this crucial negotiation would determine their fate.
In the face of my intransigent attitude, perhaps considering the consequences of a possible political contre temps with neutral Turkey, the officer invited me to declare officially that all those in the train were Turkish citizens. I somehow felt a flicker of hope, perhaps a turning point in the whole episode. I readily and solemnly made the declaration he requested. Thereupon all the German officers left the train, a few minutes later we followed. When we at last saw them leaving the scene in their cars, we realized that it was freedom. I will never forget the emotional moment that followed. All of the freed passengers came to embrace me, held and shook my hands fervently with an unforgettable expression of gratefulness in their watery eyes. We immediately made arrangement for all of those people to return to their home. It was almost daybreak when I arrived at my home. It had been a grueling day but I slept with a deep contentment that I had never felt before. For years afterward, I received several cherished letters from the passengers of that fateful journey. Perhaps many of them are no longer living, but I remember them with deep affection.
Necdet Kent Ambassador (Retired)
THIS DEPOSITION
WAS RECEIVED BY:
Mr. Jak V. Kamhi
President
Profilo Holding A.S.
ATA-USA Winter 1989
Help From Turks During Desperate Hours
Columnist Tufan Turenc writes on the documentary recently reported on by CNN entitled 'Desperate Hours' detailing the help given by Turks during World War II. A summary of his column is as follows: "In 1933 when the Nazis came to power and Hitler assumed Germany's leadership, democrats in Germany and particularly German citizens of Jewish descent were greatly troubled. Scholars were frightened. Mustafa Kemal, who was closely following the developments in Germany, felt the coming of the tragedy Hitler was going to inflict upon the world.
Without losing any time, he gave instructions that scholars of Jewish descent be invited to our shores. More than 200 academics came to Turkey, which welcomed them with open arms. The Turkish Republic, which faced many problems at the time, appointed these academics to universities with high salaries. Through the efforts of these gifted visitors, the quality of education in Turkey got an immediate boost. After their long stay in Turkey and with the end of Hitler's reich, these academics returned to their countries. However, none of them forgot Turkey's noble gesture, and they saw our country as their second homeland. At the beginning of the 1940s, Turkish diplomats prevented the taking of thousands of Jews to concentration camps through the exertion of great efforts. This exemplary action of the Turkish Republic and its diplomats was revealed in a documentary recently prepared by Jews living the US. This striking documentary was just promoted in CNN International. At a time when we are being suffocated with publications and programs slandering Turks and Turkey with countless lies, such a documentary makes one proud. This documentary should be a lesson in humanity to those who are trying to use history to wreak revenge and foster hostility."
The screening of "Desperate Hours"
Hon. Tom Lantos of CA in the House of Representatives
(Extensions of remarks, May 20, 2002)
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to mark a special occasion, the screening of the film documentary "Desperate Hours," the story of Turkish assistance to European Jews seeking
to flee the Holocaust. Produced and directed by Victoria Barrett, the film will be shown at 7:15 p.m. in room HC-7 in the Capitol. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of this event.
Mr. Speaker, I first visited Turkey as a young man in 1956. My wife Annette and I have returned to enjoy Turkish hospitality many times since. When I first visited Turkey, it was just a few short years after Turkey had made the crucial decision to join NATO, where it has always been a loyal Western ally, first against Soviet tyranny, later against ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, and now against global terrorism.
But what most ennobles Turkey for me is Its role as a savior of so many Jews during the two greatest Jewish tragedies of the past millennium, the Inquisition and the Holocaust. During the
Inquisition of the late fifteenth century, the Ottoman Sultan Bayezit invited the fleeing Jews of Spain and Portugal to find comfort in his realm. The 500th anniversary of this episode--both sad and redemptive--was marked by Turkish Jews and non-Jews alike in 1992.
The documentary "Desperate Hours" commemorates Turkey's rarely cited role in that other Jewish tragedy--the greatest crime of the bloody twentieth century--the Holocaust. Turkey's efforts were as important and dramatic as they are little known. Turkey offered refuge to hundreds of Germans--non-Jews as well as Jews--during the 1930s. Its diplomats in France, often without waiting for instructions from the capital, conferred Turkish citizenship on thousands of desperate Jews trapped in Nazi-occupied and Vichy France. In some cases Turkish diplomats, at great personal risk, stared down Gestapo officers to protect their new fellow citizens, as was the case with the saintly Necdet Kent. All this, while Nazi troops stood poised on Turkey's borders.
My wife and I were saved by Raul Wallenberg. I am pleased that the Turkish versions of Wallenberg are at last receiving their due.
The intimate links between Turks and Jews continue, of course, to this day. A community of some 25,000 Jews thrives in contemporary Turkey. Tens of thousands of Turkish Jews living nearby in Israel cherish their links to Turkey. All of this is a testament to the Muslim-Jewish friendship that has been a hallmark of the Turkish historical experience.
In recent times, Turkish-Jewish friendship has been enriched and deepened by the close relations Israel and Turkey have forged in recent years. Journalists have focused on the security relationship — and that indeed is important — but the non-security aspects of this relationship are growing even more rapidly: burgeoning commercial trade now worth over a billion dollars a year, Israeli tourists by the hundreds of thousands flocking annually to Turkey, and a vibrant intellectual exchange between Turkish and Israeli universities.
No other Muslim society rivals Turkey's record regarding the Jews; in fact, few societies of any type anywhere in the world do. I congratulate my dear friend former Ambassador Baki Ilkin, who
so strongly supported this documentary project, and my dear friend the current Turkish ambassador Faruk Logoglu. I strongly commend all those associated with the film "Desperate Hours" for helping to elucidate and publicize one of the most important chapters in the long, dramatic, and mutually rewarding history shared by the Jewish and Turkish peoples.
Turkey's version of Schindler's List
Documentary brings Turkey's version of Schindler's List out into the light
Muslims, Jews and Christians work to save lives in Desperate Hours, filmmaker says
IRWIN BLOCK
The Gazette
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Documentary filmmaker Victoria Barrett talks about her award-winning Desperate Hours, a film about Turkey's role in saving European Jews from the Holocaust. It will be shown tonight in Montreal, and broadcast for the first time in North America tomorrow.
Among acts of conviction and bravery to save imperiled Jews in German-occupied Europe, few people know of the Turkish heroes of the Second World War.
Meet Necdet Kent, the Turkish consul in Marseille, France, during the dark days of the early 1940s.
Some call him the Turkish Oskar Schindler for what he did to rescue Jews of Turkish origin.
Turkey at the time was neutral; Kent and two other Turkish diplomats are estimated to have saved 10,000 Turkish Jews by insisting the Germans respect their Turkish nationality.
Another 10,000 Jews from Romania and Hungary may also have found refuge in Turkey during that time.
And it took an Episcopalian from the Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia to record on film the saga of the Marseille rescue and similar acts of extraordinary humanitarian effort.
Victoria Barrett
Victoria Barrett
Filmmaker Victoria Barrett produced the award-winning documentary Desperate Hours, which will be broadcast for the first time in North America tomorrow on PBS Mountain Lake at 8 p.m.
What drove her to record this chapter in history?
"Today I don't think there is any greater problem facing the world than religious intolerance," she said in an interview in Montreal.
"This movie tells stories of Muslims, Jews and Christians are working to save lives, not to kill each other."
Barrett's film will also be shown at the Musée d'Art Contemporain tonight, when Turkish ambassador Aydemir Erman will be awarded the B'nai Brith interfaith humanitarian award for Turkey's role in saving Jews.
Discussing the Marseille incident, she noted: "In the middle of the night, someone comes running into the consulate to say they've rounded up all the Turkish Jews, they're on a train and they're taking them to one of these camps.
"Necdet Kent got out of bed, he went to the train and sat there as the train left and travelled with it 60 kilometres.
"Finally the German officer said, 'OK, fine, you can take your people and go. We don't want an incident.' "
The effort is believed to have saved an estimated 50 to 70 people from certain death.
Barrett's timing was prescient, as all three diplomats, including Namik Yolga in Paris and Selehatin Vikemen on the island of Rhodes, have died since being captured on film.
"Unbelievable. I'm so glad," said Barrett, an actor who happened to be living in Turkey when she learned of these little-known deeds and decided to make them the subject of a documentary.
The film, chosen best documentary at the 2003 Washington Independent Film Festival, relate other Turkish efforts.
Turkey welcomed 200 German and Austrian academics, two-thirds of whom were Jewish or partly Jewish, and were forbidden from teaching in 1934.
"Albert Einstein was heading for Turkey, but he got a better offer in the U.S.," Barrett remarked.
A surviving professor and several descendants praise Turkey for saving their lives.
In 1941, when the Germans were 80 kilometres from Istanbul, Turkey blew up two bridges to retard possible invasion. Some Jews moved to Anatolia.
Montreal Gazette
Namik Kemal Yolga
Namik Kemal Yolga (1914-2001) was a Turkish diplomat and statesman , known as the Turkish Schindler . During the WWII, Yolga was the Vice-Consul at the Turkish Embassy in Paris, France . His efforts to save the lives of Turkish Jews from the Nazi concentration camps earned him the title of "Turkish Schindler."
Namik Kemal Yolga
Yolga (1914-2001)
Namik Kemal Yolga was posted to Turkish Embassy in Paris in 1940 as the Vice-Consul, his first diplomatic post in a foreign country. Two months later Nazis invaded France and started their hunt for the Jews and sent them to a concentration camp in Drancy near Paris. Young Yolga was brave enough to save the Turkish Jews one by one from the Nazi authorities, drive them in his car and hide them in safe places. Yolga's determination resulted to save all the Turkish Jews except one who was later transferred to a concentration camp in Germany. In his autobiography, Yolga described his efforts as: "Every time we learnt that a Turkish Jew was captured and sent to Drancy , the Turkish Embassy sent an ultimatum to the German Embassy in Paris and demanded his/her release, specifically pointing out that the Turkish Constitution does not discriminate its people for their race or religion, therefore Turkish Jews are Turkish nationals and Germans have no right to arrest them as Turkey was a neutral country during the war. Then I used to go to Drancy to pick him/her up with my car and put them in a safe house. As far as I know, only one Turkish Jew from Bordeaux was sent to a camp in Germany as the Turkish Embassy was not aware of his arrest at the time."
The foregoing is from Wikipedia (BEWARE!)
"The Ambassador" Saves 18,200
The story of “The Ambassador” or Behiç Erkin:
Behiç Erkin's grandfather was an Ottoman Army Commander. Despite the fact that Erkin was disabled, he was accepted to the Ottoman Army because of his grandfather's position and he became the only individual to receive "special authorization" to join the Ottoman Army Corps of Officers.
Behic Erkin, from WWI days with gold cross
Erkin was appointed Thessalonica Military Railroad Commisioner and met Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, in 1907. He became one of Atatürk's closest friends and confidants throughout his lifetime.
During the Gallipoli War, Erkin was responsible for successfully transporting logistics and military personnel to the front, for which he was awarded the German Gold Cross (First Degree), the highest award given by the Germans and French Legione D'Honneur (First Degree).
Erkin was asked by Atatürk to head the newly formed Turkish Railroad Administration during the War of Independence. It was one of the most important and vital posts for the war years as it shouldered the transportation of army and logistics to various fronts during the war.
Atatürk gave Behiç his last name, "Erkin," which means independent, on Feb. 8, 1935 and said, “When Behiç has a firm conviction, even I can't change his mind.”
After the War of Independence, Erkin was awarded the "Independence Medal." He became a member of the newly established Parliament and later the Public Works Ministery.
After the death of Atatürk in 1938, İsmet İnönü came to power and İnönü sent Erkin to France as Turkish ambassador to Paris. During his tenure, which coincided with the Nazi occupation in France, he ensured that Nazi officials did not confiscate the properties of Turkish citizens of Jewish origin living in France.
The registered number of Turkish Jews was about 10,000 but there were about 10,000 unregistered Jews, whose origin can not be identified as to whether they were Turkish or not.
He opposed the French authorities and granted Turkish citizenship to those who called themselves Turkish under the pressure of Nazi occupiers who wanted to send the Jews to concentration camps. He used his golden German medal and personal courage and knowledge to help secure the return of Turkish Jews.
In order to prevent the French security forces from apprehending the Jews of Turkish origin from their domiciles, he threatened the French by saying he would have Turkish flags hung up in front of every house therefore providing diplomatic immunity.
The ambassador provided the safe return of over 18,200 Turkish-Jewish citizens living in France out of 20,000 by train. Nowhere else did members of the Jewish community survive in such large numbers under Nazi occupation.
The above is an excerpt from the Feb. 13, 2007 issue of the Turkish Daily News, and the rest may be read here. It appears Hollywood is interested in "The Ambassador," a book written by Erkin's grandson, the product of nine years of research. George Clooney is reported to be considering the role.
Prof. Stanford Shaw, in his book "Turkey and the Holocaust," wrote of 10,000 Turkish Jews, 10,000 irregulars (possibly Turkish Jews, but maybe not), and 400 others for a total of 20,400. It's pretty remarkable the ambassador saved over 18,000. vs. (for perspective) Schindler's 1,000.
Unfortunately, many Jews are totally ignorant of the great deeds of one of their very, very few historic good friends. This is one reason why so many of the ignorant ones don't think twice before hopping in the same bed with beloved Armenians.
© Holdwater
tallarmeniantale.com/Turk-Israeli-alliance.htm
tallarmeniantale.com/Jewish-Turk-story.htm
tallarmeniantale.com/jews-of-turkey.htm
tallarmeniantale.com/Turks-save-Jews.htm
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