.svg) | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 330,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Israel | 280,000[1] |
 Turkey | 14,500 (2022)[2] 14,200 (2023)[3] 14,000 (2025)[4] |
 United States | 16,000[citation needed] |
 Canada | 8,000[citation needed] |
| Languages | |
| Hebrew (in Israel),Turkish,Judaeo-Spanish, English, French,Greek,Yevanic (extinct),Levantine Arabic[5] | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Jews,Sephardic Jews,Ashkenazi Jews,Spanish Jews,Greek Jews | |
Religion in Turkey |
|---|
| Secularism in Turkey |
| Irreligion in Turkey |
Thehistory of the Jews in Turkey (Turkish:Türk Yahudileri orTürk Musevileri;Hebrew:יהודים טורקים,romanized: Yehudim Turkim; (Ladino:Djudios Turkos) covers the 2400 years thatJews have lived in what is nowTurkey.
There have beenJewish communities in Anatolia since at least the beginning of the common era. Anatolia's Jewish population before Ottoman times primarily consisted of Greek-speakingRomaniote Jews, with a handful of dispersedKaraite communities. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, manySephardic Jews from Spain, Portugal and South Italy expelled by theAlhambra Decree found refuge across theOttoman Empire, including in regions now part of Turkey. This influx played a pivotal role in shaping the predominant identity ofOttoman Jews.[6]
By the end of the sixteenth century, the Jewish population in the Ottoman Empire was double (150,000) that of Jews inPoland andUkraine combined (75,000), far surpassing other Jewish communities to be the largest in the world.[7][8] Turkey's Jewish community was large, diverse and vibrant, forming the core of Ottoman Jewry untilWorld War I. Early signs of change included education reforms and the rise ofZionism. The community declined sharply after World War I, with many emigrating toIsrael,France and theAmericas.Turkish Jews in Israel became leaders of the Sephardic community, and theirLadino language was a prominent characteristic.[9]
Today, the vast majority of Turkish Jews live in Israel, though Turkey itself still has a modest Jewish population, where the vast majority live inIstanbul, and the remainder inİzmir. Jews are one of the fourethnic minorities officially recognized in Turkey, together withArmenians,Greeks,[10][11][12] andBulgarians.[13][14][15]
According to theHebrew Bible,Noah's Ark landed on the top ofMount Ararat, a mountain in eastern Anatolia, in the Armenian Highlands, near the present-day borders of Turkey,Armenia, andIran.[16]
In the 1st century AD, Jewish historianJosephus cited records confirming the presence of diaspora Jews inLydia andPhrygia by the late 3rd century BC, a community established through the relocation of 2000 families bySeleucid kingAntiochus III.[17] Josephus notes Jewish origins for many of the cities in Anatolia, though much of his sourcing for these passages is traditional.[18] Descendants inSardis and other centers gained civic privileges by theLate Republican Rome.[17]
TheNew Testament has many mentions of Jewish populations in Anatolia: Iconium (nowKonya) is said to have a synagogue inActs of the Apostles 14:1, andEphesus is mentioned as having a synagogue in Acts 19:1 and in Paul'sEpistle to the Ephesians. TheEpistle to the Galatians is likewise directed atGalatia, which once held an established Jewish population.[19][20][21]
Based on physical evidence, there has been a Jewish community in Anatolia since the fourth century BCE, most notably in the city ofSardis. The subsequentRoman andByzantine Empires included sizableGreek-speaking Jewish communities in their Anatolian domains which seem to have been relatively well-integrated and enjoyed certain legal immunities.[20]
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The size of the Jewish community was not greatly affected by the attempts of someByzantine emperors toforcibly convert the Jews of Anatolia toChristianity, as these attempts met with very little success.[22] The exact picture of the status of the Jews in Asia Minor under Byzantine rule is still being researched by historians.[23] Although there is some evidence of occasional hostility by the Byzantine populations and authorities, no systematic persecution of the type endemic at that time in western Europe (pogroms, thestake,mass expulsions, etc.) is believed to have occurred in Byzantium.[24]
Jews arrived in Anatolia between the sixth century BCE and 133 BCE, when the Romans arrived. They wereRomaniote Jews and first settled inPhrygia andLydia.[25] In 2020, a seventh-century synagogue was uncovered inSide.[20]
The firstsynagogue linked to Ottoman rule is "Tree of Life" (Hebrew:עץ החיים) inBursa, which passed to Ottoman authority in 1324. The synagogue is still in use, although the modern Jewish population of Bursa has shrunk to about 140 people.[26]
The status of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire often hinged on the whims of thesultan. So, for example, whileMurad III ordered that the attitude of all non-Muslims should be one of "humility and abjection" and that they should not "live near Mosques or tall buildings" or own slaves, others were more tolerant.[27]
The first major event inJewish history under Turkish rule took place after the Empire gained control overConstantinople. AfterMehmed the Conqueror'sconquest of Constantinople he found the city in a state of disarray. After sufferingmany sieges, the devastatingsack of Constantinople byCrusaders in 1204 and the arrival of theBlack Death pandemic in 1347,[28] the city was a shadow of its former glory. Since Mehmed wanted the city as his new capital, he decreed its rebuilding.[29]
In order to revivify Constantinople he ordered thatMuslims,Christians and Jews from all over his empire be resettled in the new capital.[29] Within months, most of the Empire'sRomaniote Jews, from theBalkans andAnatolia, were concentrated in Constantinople, where they made up 10% of the city's population.[30] At the same time, the forced resettlement, though not intended as ananti-Jewish measure, was perceived as an "expulsion" by the Jews.[31] Despite this interpretation, Romaniotes would be the most influential community in the Empire for a few decades, until that position would be lost to a wave of Sephardi immigrants.
The number of Romaniotes was soon bolstered by small groups ofAshkenazi Jews that immigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1421 and 1453.[30] Among these immigrants was RabbiYitzhak Sarfati, a German-born Jew of French descent[32] (צרפתיSarfati, meaning "French"), who became Chief Rabbi ofEdirne and wrote a letter inviting European Jewry to settle in the Ottoman Empire, in which he stated, "Turkey is a land wherein nothing is lacking," and asking, "Is it not better for you to live under Muslims than under Christians?"[32][33]
The greatest influx of Jews intoAnatolia Eyalet and the Ottoman Empire occurred during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror's successor,Bayezid II (1481–1512), after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, theKingdom of Portugal, theKingdom of Naples and theKingdom of Sicily. The Sultan issued a formal invitation and refugees started arriving in the empire in great numbers. A key moment occurred in 1492, when more than 40,000 Spanish Jews fled theSpanish Inquisition.[34] At that point in time, Constantinople's population was a mere 70,000 due to the various sieges of the city during the Crusades and the Black Death, so this historical event was also significant for repopulation of the city. These Sephardi Jews settled in Constantinople, as well asThessaloniki.
The Jews satisfied various needs in the Ottoman Empire: the MuslimTurks were largely uninterested in business enterprises and accordingly left commercial occupations to members of minority religions. They also distrusted the Christian subjects whose countries had only recently been conquered by the Ottomans and therefore it was natural to prefer Jewish subjects to which this consideration did not apply.[35]
TheSephardi Jews were allowed to settle in the wealthier cities of the empire, especially inRumelia (the European provinces, cities such as Constantinople,Sarajevo, Thessaloniki,Adrianople andNicopolis), western and northern Anatolia (Bursa,Aydın,Tokat,Tire,Manisa andAmasya),[6] but also in theMediterranean coastal regions (Jerusalem,Safed,Damascus, andEgypt).İzmir was not settled by Spanish Jews until later.
The Jewish population in Jerusalem increased from 70 families in 1488 to 1500 at the beginning of the 16th century. That of Safed increased from 300 to 2000 families and almost surpassed Jerusalem in importance. Damascus had a Sephardic congregation of 500 families. Constantinople had a Jewish community of 30,000 individuals with44 synagogues. Bayezid allowed the Jews to live on the banks of theGolden Horn. Egypt Eyalet, especiallyCairo, received a large number of the exiles, who soon outnumberedMusta'arabi Jews. Gradually, the chief center of the Sephardi Jews became Thessaloniki, where the Spanish Jews soon outnumbered coreligionists of other nationalities and, at one time, the original native inhabitants.
Although the status of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire may have often been exaggerated,[36] it is undeniable that they enjoyed tolerance. Under themillet system they were organized as a community on the basis of religion alongside the other millets (e.g.Eastern Orthodox millet,Armenian Apostolic millet, etc.). In the framework of the millet, they had a considerable amount of administrativeautonomy and were represented by theHakham Bashi, the Chief Rabbi. There were no restrictions in the professions Jews could practice analogous to those common in Western Christian countries.[37] There were restrictions in the areas Jews could live or work, but such restrictions were imposed on Ottoman subjects of other religions as well.[35]
Like all non-Muslims, Jews had to pay theharaç "head tax" and faced other restrictions in clothing, horse riding, army service etc., but they could occasionally be waived or circumvented.[38] Jews who reached high positions in the Ottoman court and administration include Mehmed the Conqueror's Minister of Finance (Defterdar) Hekim Yakup Paşa, his Portuguese physicianMoses Hamon,Murad II's physicianİshak Paşa andAbraham de Castro, master of the mint in Egypt.
During the Classical Ottoman period (1300–1600), the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, enjoyed a certain level of prosperity. Compared with other Ottoman subjects, they were the predominant power in commerce and trade as well in diplomacy and other high offices. In the 16th century especially, the Jews were the most prominent under themillets, the apogee of Jewish influence could arguably be the appointment ofJoseph Nasi tosanjak-bey (governor, a rank usually only bestowed upon Muslims) ofNaxos.[39] Also in the first half of the 17th century the Jews were distinct in winningtax farms, Haim Gerber describes it: "My impression is that no pressure existed, that it was merely performance that counted."[40]
Friction between Jews and Turks was less common than in the Arab territories. Some examples: During the reign ofMurad IV (1623–1640), the Jews of Jerusalem were persecuted by an Arab who had purchased the governorship of that city from the governor of the province.[citation needed] UnderMehmed IV (1649–1687), the1660 destruction of Safed occurred.[41][42][43]
An additional problem wasJewish ethnic divisions. They had come to the Ottoman Empire from many lands, bringing with them their own customs and opinions, to which they clung tenaciously, and had founded separate congregations. Another tremendous upheaval was caused whenSabbatai Zeviclaimed to be the Messiah. He was eventually caught by the Ottoman authorities and when given the choice between death and conversion, he opted for the latter. His remaining disciples converted to Islam too. Their descendants are today known asDönmeh.
The history of the Jews in Turkey in the 18th and 19th century is principally a chronicle of decline in influence and power; they lost their influential positions in trade mainly to theGreeks, who were able to "capitalize on their religio-cultural ties with the West and theirtrading diaspora".[40] An exception to this isDaniel de Fonseca, who was chief court physician and played a certain political role. He is mentioned byVoltaire, who speaks of him as an acquaintance whom he esteemed highly. Fonseca was involved in negotiations withCharles XII of Sweden.
Ottoman Jews held a variety of views on the role of Jews in theOttoman Empire, from loyalOttomanism toZionism.[44]Emmanuel Carasso, for example, was a founding member of theYoung Turks, and believed that the Jews of the Empire should beTurks first, and Jews second.
As mentioned before, the overwhelming majority of the Ottoman Jews lived in Rumelia. As theEmpire declined however, the Jews of these region found themselves under Christian rule. TheBosnian Jews for example came underAustro-Hungarian rule after the occupation of the region in 1878, the independence ofGreece,Bulgaria andSerbia further lowered the number of Jews within the borders of the Ottoman Empire.
TheJewish population ofOttoman Empirehad reached nearly 200,000 at the start of the 20th century.[45] The territories lost between 1829 and 1913 to the new Christian Balkan states significantly lowered this number.
The troubled history of Turkey during the 20th century and the process of transforming the old Ottoman Empire into a secularnation state after 1923, however, had a negative effect on the size of all remaining minorities, including theJews.
After 1933, a new law put into effect inNazi Germany for mandatory retirement of officials from non-Aryan race. Thus, the law required all the Jewish scientists in Germany to be fired. Unemployed scientists led byAlbert Einstein formed an association in Switzerland. Professor Schwartz, the general secretary of the association, met with the Turkish Minister of Education in order to provide jobs for 34 Jewish scientists in Turkish universities especially inIstanbul University.[46]
In 1933, Turkey accepted more than 1000 jews, most of whom were intellectuals and scientists, into Istanbul, contributing to the modernisation of the Turkish state spearheaded by Ataturk. They restructured the newly established Istanbul University, introducing European-style academic standards, research methods, and pedagogical practices. These émigrés trained a new generation of Turkish academics, doctors, lawyers, and engineers, significantly raising the quality of education and professional expertise. Beyond the sciences, they influenced cultural life, helping to modernize arts, architecture, and music education, and brought international intellectual perspectives that shaped public administration and social sciences.[47] Ernst Hirsch, an exiled jewish scholar and lawyer, helped the Turkish authorities in modernising Turkish contemporary law, which still carried some substantial remnants from the Ottoman code. He authored several textbooks that were used for years after the second world war.[48] The acceptance of these intellectuals wasn't so much a humanitarian effort as it was the Turkish government's efforts to modernize and westernize.[49]
However, the planned deportation of Jews fromEast Thrace and the associated anti-Jewishpogrom in 1934 was one of the events that caused insecurity among the Turkish Jews.[50] Before the start of the pogroms,Ibrahim Tali Öngören, the Inspectorate General of theTrakya Inspectorate General, suggested to remove the Jews from the region as they presented an economic threat to the Muslim population.[51] In 1934, the Turkish government expelled all the Jews from Edirne and the Straits.[52]
The effect of the 1942Varlık Vergisi ("Wealth Tax") was solely on non-Muslims – who still controlled the largest portion of theyoung republic's wealth – even though in principle it was directed against all wealthy Turkish citizens, it most intensely affected non-Muslims. The "wealth tax" is still remembered as a "catastrophe" among the non-Muslims of Turkey and it had one of the most detrimental effects on the population of Turkish Jews. Many people unable to pay the exorbitant taxes were sent to labor camps and in consequence about 30,000 Jews emigrated.[53] The tax was seen as aracist attempt to diminish the economic power of religious minorities in Turkey.[54]
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DuringWorld War II,Turkey was officially neutral although it maintainedstrong diplomatic relations withNazi Germany.[55] During the war, Turkeydenaturalized 3,000 to 5,000 Jews living abroad; 2,500 Turkish Jews were deported toNazi concentration camps such asAuschwitz,Sobibor and otherextermination camps. When Nazi Germany encouraged neutral countries to repatriate their Jewish citizens, Turkish diplomats received instructions to avoid repatriating Jews even if they could prove their Turkish nationality.[56] Turkey was also the only neutral country to implementanti-Jewish laws during the war.[57] More Turkish Jews suffered as a result of discriminatory policies during the war than were saved by Turkey.[58] Although Turkey has promoted the idea that it was a rescuer of Jews duringthe Holocaust, this is considered a myth by historians.[59] This myth has been used to promoteArmenian genocide denial.[60]
Turkey served as a transit forEuropean Jews fleeing Nazi persecution during the 1930s and 1940s.[61][62]
A memorial stone with a bronze epitaph was inaugurated in 2012, as the third of individual country memorials (after Poland and the Netherlands) at theBergen-Belsen concentration camp for eight Turkish citizens killed during the Nazi regime in the said camp. The Turkish Ambassador to Berlin, Hüseyin Avni Karslıoğlu stated in an inauguration speech that Germany set free 105 Turkish citizens, held in camps, after a mutual agreement between the two countries, and these citizens returned to Turkey in April 1945, although there is no known official record for other Turkish Jews who died during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
According to Rıfat Bali, Turkish authorities bear some responsibility for theStruma disaster, killing about 781 Jewish refugees and 10 crew, due to their refusal to allow the Jewish refugees on board to disembark in Turkey.[63][64]William Rubinstein goes further, citing British pressure on Turkey not to letStruma's passengers disembark, in accordance with Britain'sWhite Paper of 1939 to prevent further Jewish immigration to Israel then-Palestine.[65]
Important Turkish diplomats during the Holocaust
When the Republic of Turkey was established in 1923,Aliyah was not particularly popular amongst Turkish Jewry; migration from Turkey to Palestine was minimal in the 1920s.[66]
Between 1923 and 1948, approximately 7,300 Jews emigrated from Turkey toMandatory Palestine.[67] After the1934 Thrace pogroms following the1934 Turkish Resettlement Law, it is estimated that 521 Jews left for Palestine from Turkey in 1934 and 1,445 left in 1935.[67] However, although the Law on Settlement may well have actually provoked the incidents’ outbreak, the national authorities did not side with the attackers but immediately intervened in the incidents. After order was restored, the governors and mayors of the provinces involved were removed from office.[68]
Immigration to Palestine was organized by the Jewish Agency and the Palestine Aliya Anoar Organization. TheVarlık Vergisi, a capital tax which occurred in 1942, was also significant in encouraging emigration from Turkey to Palestine; between 1943 and 1944, 4,000 Jews emigrated.[69]
The Jews of Turkey reacted very favorably to the creation of the State of Israel. Between 1948 and 1951, 34,547 Jews immigrated to Israel, nearly 40% of the Turkish Jewish population at the time.[70] Immigration was stunted for several months in November 1948, when Turkey suspended migration permits as a result of pressure from Arab countries.[71]
In 1949, Turkey officially recognized Israel, becoming the first Muslim-majority country to do so.[72] Migration permits were reinstated and emigration continued, with 26,000 emigrating within the same year. The migration was entirely voluntary, and was primary driven by economic factors given the majority of emigrants were from the lower classes.[73] In fact, the migration of Jews to Israel is the second largest mass emigration wave out of Turkey, the first being thePopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey.[74]
After 1951, emigration of Jews from Turkey to Israel slowed perceptibly.[75]
In the mid-1950s, 10% of those who had moved to Israel returned to Turkey. A new synagogue, theNeve Şalom, was constructed in Istanbul in 1951. Generally, Turkish Jews in Israel have integrated well into society and are not distinguishable from other Israelis.[76] However, they maintain their Turkish culture and connection to Turkey, and are strong supporters of close relations between Israel and Turkey.[77]
On the night of 6/7 September 1955, theIstanbul Pogrom was unleashed. Although primarily aimed at the city'sGreek population, the Jewish andArmenian communities ofIstanbul were also targeted to a degree. The damage caused was mainly material (over 4,000 shops and 1,000 houses belonging to Greeks, Armenians and Jews were destroyed) it deeply shocked minorities throughout the country.[78][79]
The present size of the Jewish community was estimated at 17,400 in 2012 according to the Jewish Virtual Library.[80] The vast majority, approximately 95%, live inIstanbul, with a community of about 2,500 inİzmir, and until the2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, much smaller communities inAntakya andİskenderun.Sephardi Jews make up approximately 96% of Turkey's Jewish population, while the rest are primarilyAshkenazi Jews andJews from Italian extraction. There is also a small community ofRomaniote Jews and the community of theConstantinopolitan Karaites who are related to each other.
The city ofAntakya, was home to ten Jewish families, numbering 20 members in 2014, many of whom wereSyrian Jews ofMizrahi Jewish extraction, having originally come fromAleppo, Syria, 2,500 years ago. Figures were once higher but families have left for Istanbul, Israel and other countries.[81]
Turkish Jews are still legally represented by theHakham Bashi, the Chief Rabbi. RabbiIshak Haleva is assisted by a religious council made up of aRosh Bet Din and threeHahamim. 35 lay counselors look after the secular affairs of the community and an executive committee of fourteen, the president of which must be elected from among the lay counselors, runs the daily affairs. The Istanbul community also has 16 synagogues and well kept and guarded cemetery.[82]
In 2001, theJewish Museum of Turkey was founded by the Quincentennial Foundation, an organisation established in 1982 consisting of 113Turkish citizens, bothJews andMuslims, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of theSephardic Jews to theOttoman Empire.[83]
The Turkish-Jewish population is experiencing a population decline, due to both large-scale immigration to Israel out of fear of antisemitism, but also because of natural population decline. Intermarriage with Turkish Muslims and assimilation have become common, and the community's death rate is more than twice that of its birth rate.[84][85]
As of 2022, the Jewish population in Turkey is around 14,500.[86]
In the2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, the leaders of the Jewish community of Antakya were killed, theAntakya Synagogue was badly damaged, and the entire Jewish community, numbering 14 members, was evacuated from Antakya.[87][88][89]
The Jewish community in Turkey was linguistically diverse.Sephardic Jews spokeJudaeo-Spanish (Ladino) and French was used as aprestige language in the community. Sephardic Jews completelyshifted to Turkish after the foundation of the Republic of Turkey.Ashkenazi Jews spokeYiddish or French and similarly shifted to Turkish. In Istanbul, many Jews would also speak Greek or Armenian until the mid 20th century giventhe city's ethnic diversity.[91] Jews inHatay spokeLevantine Arabic.[5] The 11 Jewish communities inTurkish Kurdistan spokeKurdish but the community doesn't exist anymore.[92]
Jews and theirlinguistic rights are officially recognized as aminority in Turkey by the 1923Treaty of Lausanne.[10][11][13][12] According to this Treaty, officially recognized minorities (Armenians,Greeks and Jews) can use theirmother tongue freely, especially for education purposes. At the time, the mother tongue of the majority of Turkish Jews was Ladino. French was also themedium of instruction in most Jewish schools run by theAlliance Israélite Universelle in the Ottoman Empire. However, the Turkish government considered that, for the purpose of the Treaty of Lausanne, the mother tongue of Jews wasHebrew, and therefore only allowed teaching in Hebrew.[93][94] TheMinistry of National Education refused to change its decision despite requests from the Jewish community. For that reason, Jewish schools switched from French to Turkish.[93]
According to researchers atTel Aviv University, antisemitism in the media and books was creating a situation in which young, educated Turks formed negative opinions against Jews and Israel.[95] Moreover, violence against Jews has also occurred. In 2003, an Istanbul dentist was murdered in his clinic by a man who admitted that he committed the crime out of antisemitic sentiment. In 2009, a number of Jewish students suffered verbal abuse and physical attacks, and a Jewish soldier in theTurkish Army was assaulted.
TheNeve Shalom Synagogue inIstanbul has been attacked three times.[96] First on 6 September 1986, Arab terrorists gunned down 22 Jewish worshippers and wounded 6 duringShabbat services at Neve Shalom. This attacked was blamed on thePalestinian militantAbu Nidal.[97][98][99] The Synagogue was hit again during the2003 Istanbul bombings alongside theBeth Israel Synagogue, killing 20 and injuring over 300 people, bothJews andMuslims alike. Even though a localTurkish militant group, theGreat Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front, claimed responsibility for the attacks, police claimed the bombings were "too sophisticated to have been carried out by that group",[97] with a senior Israeli government source saying: "the attack must have been at least coordinated with international terror organizations".[99]
Traditionally,aliyah from Turkey to Israel has been low since the 1950s. Despite the antisemitism and occasional violence, Jews felt generally safe in Turkey. In the 2000s, despite surging antisemitism, including antisemitic incidents, aliyah remained low. In 2008, only 112 Turkish Jews emigrated, and in 2009, that number only rose to 250.[100] However, in the aftermath of the2010 Gaza flotilla raid, antisemitism in Turkey increased and became more open, and it was reported that the community was also subjected to economic pressure. A boycott of Jewish businesses, especially textile businesses, took place, and Israeli tourists who had frequented the businesses of Turkish Jewish merchants largely stopped visiting Turkey. As a result, the number of Turkish Jews immigrating to Israel increased.[101] In addition to safety concerns, some Turkish Jews also immigrated to Israel to find a Jewish spouse due to the increasing difficulty of finding one in the small Turkish Jewish community. In 2012, it was reported that the number of Jews expressing interest in moving to Israel rose by 100%, a large number of Jewish business owners were seeking to relocate their businesses to Israel, and that hundreds were moving every year.[102]
In October 2013, it was reported that a mass exodus of Turkish Jews was underway. Reportedly, Turkish Jewish families are immigrating to Israel at the rate of one family per week on average, and hundreds of young Turkish Jews are also relocating to the United States and Europe.[103] In 2022 the Jewish population in Turkey was 14,500[104] In 2024 the Jewish population in Turkey was 14,300[105]
Turkey was among the first countries to formally recognize the State of Israel.[106]Turkey and Israel have closely cooperated militarily and economically. Israel and Turkey have signed a multibillion-dollar project to build a series of pipelines from Turkey to Israel to supply gas, oil and other essentials to Israel.[107] In 2003 theArkadaş Association was established in Israel. TheArkadaş Association is aTurkish–Jewish cultural center inYehud, aiming to preserve the Turkish-Jewish heritage and promote friendship (Arkadaş being theTurkish word forFriend) between theIsraeli andTurkish people. In 2004, theÜlkümen-Sarfati Society was established by Jews andTurks in Germany. The society, named afterSelahattin Ülkümen andYitzhak Sarfati, aims to promote intercultural and interreligious dialogue and wants to inform the public of the centuries of peaceful coexistence between Turks and Jews.[108][109]
The various migrations outside of Turkey has produced descendants of Turkish Jews in Europe, Israel, United States, and Canada. Today, there are still various synagogues that maintain Jewish-Turkish traditions.
The Sephardic Synagogue Sephardic Bikur Holim inSeattle, Washington, was formed by Jews from Turkey, and still usesLadino in some portions of the Shabbat services. They created asiddur called Zehut Yosef, written byHazzan Isaac Azose, to preserve their unique traditions.
In recent years, several hundred Turkish Jews, who have been able to prove that they are descended fromJews expelled from Portugal in 1497, haveemigrated to Portugal and acquiredPortuguese citizenship.[110][111][112]
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Turkey is a nation–state built on remnants of the Ottoman Empire where non-Muslim minorities were guaranteed the right to set up educational institutions; however, since its establishment, it has officially recognised only Armenians, Greeks and Jews as minorities and guaranteed them the right to manage educational institutions as enshrined in the Treaty of Lausanne. [...] Private language teaching courses teach 'traditionally used languages', elective language courses have been introduced in public schools and universities are allowed to teach minority languages.
Turkey signed the Covenant on 15 August 2000 and ratified it on 23 September 2003. However, Turkey put a reservation on Article 27 of the Covenant which limited the scope of the right of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion or to use their own language. This reservation provides that this right will be implemented and applied in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Turkish Constitution and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. This implies that Turkey grants educational right in minority languages only to the recognized minorities covered by the Lausanne who are the Armenians, Greeks and the Jews.
The fact that Turkish constitutional law takes an even more restrictive approach to minority rights than required under the Treaty of Lausanne was recognised by the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in its concluding observations on the combined fourth to sixth periodic reports of Turkey. The CERD noted that 'the treaty of Lausanne does not explicitly prohibit the recognition of other groups as minorities' and that Turkey should consider recognising the minority status of other groups, such as Kurds. 50 In practice, this means that Turkey grants minority rights to 'Greek, Armenian and Jewish minority communities while denying their possible impact for unrecognized minority groups (e.g. Kurds, Alevis, Arabs, Syriacs, Protestants, Roma etc.)'.
A bronze column found in Ankara confirms the rights EmperorAugustus accorded the Jews of Asia Minor.
"There were historical records that the Jews resided in Side, but we found out the first palpable proof," Feriştah Alanyalı, an academic from the Anadolu University, told the Demirören News Agency. Some words written in the middle of the synagogue say: "Joseph from Korakesion [today's Alanya district] dedicated it to son Daniel." According to the professor, Daniel died when he was just two and a half years old and Joseph paid the cost of the renovation of the synagogue, marking his son.
A better proof may be had from some inscriptions found in Galatia relating to Jews ("C. I. G." No. 4129; "Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique," vii. 1883; comp. "R. E. J." x. 77). R. Akiba, who is said to have been a great traveler, speaks of "Galia", which is generally identified with "Galatia" (R. H. 26a)... The chief proof, however, of the existence of Jews in Galatia is the fact that St. Paul sent thither a general epistle known as the "Epistle to the Galatians."
Moins de douze ans après, en 1660, sous Mohammed IV, la ville de Safed, si importante autrefois dans les annales juives parce qu'elle était habitée exclusivement par les Israélites, fut détruite par les Arabes, au point qu'il n' y resta, dit une chroniquer une seule ame juive.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)"Mother tongue" education is mostly limited to Turkish teaching in Turkey. No other language can be taught as a mother tongue other than Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew, as agreed in the Lausanne Treaty, see below. [...] In order to guarantee civic, religious, educational, commercial, judicial, and political rights of Armenian, Greek, and Jewish people living in Turkey, clear-cut and strict stipulations were made in the Treaty of Lausanne. [...] Like Jews and Greeks, Armenians enjoy the privilege of an officially recognized minority status. [...] No language other than Turkish can be taught at schools or at cultural centers. Only Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew are exceptions to this constitutional rule.
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