The Jewish Community in a multicultural Turkey: Background and Prospects

The article is published at the 9th Edition of the Middle East Mediterranean Report, ELIAMEP (21.11.2013)

Το άρθρο δημοσιεύθηκε στο 9ο Τεύχος της επιθεώρησης Middle East Mediterranean Report, ΕΛΙΑΜΕΠ (21.11.2013)

the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul

While other Jewish Communities in Europe have suffered the results of the Holocaust, the Ottoman liberal policy towards the Jewish population as well as Ankara's neutrality during World War II turned Turkey to be a 'safe haven' for the Jews. Despite the fact that Kemalist secularism regulated reservations over religious teaching and imposed higher taxation, the Jewish Community of the country managed to remain alive during the 30s' and 40s'. 

With the Proclamation of Israel's Independence in 1948, a great percentage of Turkish Jews emigrated to Israel. According to the World Jewish Congress[1] and the Turkish Jewish Community[2] official figures, between the years 1948 and 1951, 37,000 out of a total of 75,000 Turkish Jews emigrated to Israel ("Big Turkish Aliya"). Since 1948 a total of 61,221 Turkish Jews have emigrated to Israel, while today a small population of 26,000 Jews are living in the country, most of them in Istanbul and fewer in other Turkish cities such as Izmir (est. 2,300)[3], Ankara, Bursa, Adana, Kirklareli, Iskenderun and a tiny Arab-speaking Jewish Community of 10 families in Antakya[4].

Compared to other Muslim countries where Jewish Communities still exist, the Jewish Community in Turkey did not become a reason of any political or cultural conflict whatsoever between Ankara and Tel Aviv. Throughout the decades, both Turkish and Israeli government officials and entrepreneurs managed to keep away this delicate 'religion variable' from the flourishing Turkish-Israeli strategic and financial relations during the 80s' and the 90s'. Anti-Semitic sentiments within the Turkish society caused by the continuous Arab-Israeli conflict did not succeed to influence the mainly secular and affiliated to the Turkish upper middle-class Jewish Community.

The gradual pro-Arab steps of the AKP administration combined with the new Turkish doctrine towards the Middle East and the Arab world have dramatically influenced the Turkish-Israeli relations. The Mavi Marmara incident on May 31, 2010 was the catalyst and anti-Jewish sentiments have been expressed by a great part of the Turkish society, regardless of the degree of religiosity.

The Jewish Community of Turkey suddenly found itself under extraordinary circumstances, given that for the first time Turkish citizens have become victims of the Israeli armed forces. The first –and last- declaration made by the Chief Rabbinate of Istanbul on the Mavi Marmara incident has been very careful : "We are distressed to learn of the military intervention carried out against the ship Mavi Marmara which was heading toward Gaza. The fact that, according to the first reports we have received, there have been dead and wounded in the intervention, has increased our sorrow all the more. We fully share our country’s reaction generated by the stopping of the aforementioned (humanitarian relief) effort in this manner and our sorrow is the same as that of the general public." It was obvious to the Jewish official bodies of Turkey that keeping a low-profile would ensure the traditionally centuries-old good relations with the 99,8% Muslim majority of the Turkish society.

Despite the political and social adversities that the Jewish Community of Turkey has faced since the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010[5] and although the Israeli authorities were getting prepared to accept an increased number of Turkish Jews due to the political developments that followed[6], the official figures provided by the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption prove that the average Turkish citizen of Jewish origin is still not willing to expatriate.

According to the official Israeli statistics, the Turkish "Olim Hadashim" (New Jewish Immigrants to Israel) in 2009[7], a year before the Mavi Marmara incident, were 150. This tendency remained stable in 2010[8] (155 migrants), while the following years the Jewish migration from Turkey was decreasing : 111 Turkish Jews migrated to Israel in 2011[9], 73 in 2012[10] and during the first 8 months of 2013[11] the total number of Turkish 'Olim' was only 47.