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)
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| 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 Turkey
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.
Explanations vary about Turkish Jewry's remarkable
reluctance to abandon their motherland. Despite the recent difficulties Turkish
Jews were facing after the Mavi Marmara incident due to anti-Semitic anti-Israeli
sentiments expressed by the local media and government officials, the remaining members of their Community seem
not losing their confidence that a peaceful coexistence and religious diversity
within the framework of a Turkish multicultural sociological status quo are
still possible.
Turkish Jewry's intuition seems to be confirmed and despite
AKP's political incentives, aiming to promote a neo-Islamist social agenda and
restructuring the country's regional foreign policy priorities, in an encouraging move made by the Turkish
administration, a public discussion about the new Constitution has started
within the framework of which the government showed that religious diversity
might be a factor of social reconciliation rather than a tool of foreign policy
adversity. An encouraging sign of this
conception was clear : In late 2011 the Jewish Community, the Greek Ecumenical
Patriarchate, the Armenian and the Syriac Orthodox Churches –as well as the
Alevi Community- have all been invited to convey their remarks and suggestions
to the Constitutional Reconciliation Commission (AUK)[12], which is entitled to form the draft of the
new Turkish Constitution, aiming to regulate minority rights.
Ishak Ibrahimzadeh, the newly elected Chairman of the
Jewish Community of Turkey expressed his optimism while emphasizing the basic
guidelines that AUK should take into consideration[13] :
"We
welcomed the democratization act announced by our Prime Minister. We fully
believe that all these acts will contribute more to the unity, integrity and
democracy of our Turkey. As we see that a lot of necessary reforms are going to
be done, we believe in the requirement of pursuing them while they are
implemented by the executives which should be in a way of uniting and embracing
the public.
We
expect the hatred expressions being evaluated as crime and that the commuters
of this crime be legally identified by the relevant institutions of our state
in order to protect the rights of the offended and that the necessary punitive
sanctions are applied.
Under
the light of all these we hope that our government, our State and all society
individuals altogether fulfill their own responsibilities with sincerity, and
we wish success to all on this path".
The new Constitution of the Republic of Turkey
As for the religious and ethnic minorities within the
Turkish society, it is obvious that constitutional guarantees of their basic
rights are the ultimum refugium as well as a sound basis of a tolerant,
democratic and multicultural social environment as a whole, qualities that
should continue to be promoted and protected within the framework of the
Turkish political system, regardless of Ankara's current foreign policy doctrine,
which might as well change its orientation in the future.
[1] World Jewish Congress official data on the Jewish
Community of Turkey :
[2]
Jewish Community of Turkey, official
website, http://www.turkyahudileri.com/content/view/246/273/lang,en/
[3] Ghiuzeli, Haim "The Jewish Community of
Izmir", Beit Hatfutsot – Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv http://www.bh.org.il/database-article.aspx?48211
[4] Bar'El, Tzvi "Head of tiny Jewish community in Turkey
[5]
Bali, Rifat "The Slow Disappearance of
Turkey's Jewish Community" , Jerusalem
Center for Public Affairs, No.63, Jerusalem
[6]
Adino Ababa, Dani "Immigrating out of
Fear", Yedioth Aharonot newspaper website, 30.08.2010 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3945604,00.html
[7]
Official Statistics about the Distribution of
Immigrants by Countries and Continents for the year 2009,
Israel Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption, Jerusalem
[8]Official Statistics about the Distribution of Immigrants
by Countries and Continents for the year 2010,
Israel Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption, Jerusalem
[9] Official Statistics about the Distribution of
Immigrants by Countries and Continents for the year 2011,
Israel Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption, Jerusalem
[10]
Official Statistics about the Distribution of
Immigrants by Countries and Continents for the year 2012,
Israel Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption, Jerusalem
[11]Official Statistics about the Distribution of
Immigrants by Countries and Continents for the year 2013,
Israel Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption, Jerusalem
[13]
Mr. Ishak
Ibrahimzadeh, Chairman of the Jewish Community of Turkey has been interviewed
by the author on October 4, 2013.
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