Why not talk about the more than 500 year history of great good will for Jews in Turkey? Mention the possibility that Kemal Attaturk was Jewish.

The derogatory term that Ron Margulies mentions is "korkak Yahudi".  Literally translated it means "cowardly Jew."  I grew up with Turkish as my first language, and I learned that phrase early in life and used it all the time as I was growing up.  Of course, I didn't even know its literal meaning.  When I came to America and learned English, I simply used "frady cat" as the English version.  Not until I grew up and learned that there are different religions did I realize its literal meaning.  I actually remember asking my dad why are Yahudis cowardly, and I'll paraphrase his answer: that's the way Jews are viewed in Turkey, because they will never fight back.  You can beat them all you want, they will not fight.  Of course, he did not view this as a positive quality, because he was raised to believe that such characteristics were shameful.  I am told that this is still how it is in Turkey.  Violence at the slightest provocation is a sign of valor and courage as opposed to a sign of ignorance and intolerance.

When I try to explain to people that in Turkey being an anti-semite is part of the culture, they don't believe me.  The word "anti-semite" has no meaning in Turkey, because pretty much everybody, including the Armenians, Kurds, Greeks, and everyone who isn't Jewish, are anti-semites and they don't even know it or think that it is a bad thing or even think about it; it just is.  It's part of Turkey.

With all fairness to the Turkish Jews. I think the cowardice behavior of some Jewish leaders right here in America are more deserving of the "Korkak Yahudi" moniker than the Jews living in Turkey. Afterall, it is quite apparent that the Turkish government bullies have made a national pastime out of squeezing some American Jewish Leaders' gonads and get the wettest "pee-jerk" reaction possible ... It has worked for the Turks like a well timed sprinkler system.

What a B.S. And that's coming from an Armenian, whose nationalists blame Jews for Armenian genocide, paint swastikas all over central Yerevan, publish anti-Semitic books in Armenia and whose government ministers every month or so make some ridiculous anti-Semitic statements.

This comes from an Armenian, whose country is a home to one of the most popular racist Armenian political party - Aryan Party of Armenia. While Glendale's Armenian community warmly welcomes a "writer" and a "hisotrian" who claims that Armenian genocide was a secret plan of Judo-Masons, this clown talks complete B.S. of how "badly" Jews are treated in Turkey.

Off course, it is easy not to treat badly local Jews in Armenia when there are virtually none of them left in that country. Yes, you keep giving out medals of honor to Iranian Genocide denier president and keep signing military pacts with the government of the country that is so eager to destroy Israel.

But don't worry, no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to break the strong friendship between Israel and Turkey that has been established for centuries and proven itself whenever either of the countries was in trouble. You can cry all you want with the foam coming out of your jelous mouth, but the more you make such stupid comments, the more you look like a desparate and pathetic clown.

Phantom, quit the B.S. Did you just come up with that lie? Yahud derives from semitic word Jehud. Jew/Jewish derives from the same word. It's not even Turkish word. Are you trying to say that the whole world's aculture is anti-semitic?

You are trying to explain to people of Turkey that the whole Turkish culture is based on racism? Do you know what it means? It just proves once again your own racism, ignorance and hate for everything Turkish. Next time when you come up with a fairy tale, make sure there are no educated people around. Basically, you can tell such propaganda in a circle of your own kind.

This article is nothing more than just a pathetic attempt to stir up an ethnic conflict between two nations that would presumably benefit Armenians on their issue of genocide recognition. Shame on you.

If you are looking for an anti-Semitism, look no further than Armenian community of Glendale, California:

http://www.jewishracism.com/JewishGenocide.htm

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=277516189423072580

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1741474640042234806

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5849319366900015572&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4633944021871468201&pr=goog-sl

This is so funny that this Armenian author of the article talks how some Jews change their last names to Turkish, when the head of the tiny (100 people in the entire country) Jewish community of Armenia had to change her last name to Armenian: Rimma Varzhapetian. Hypocracy or well coordinated propaganda?

Here are some links to Armenian anti-Semitism:

http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/092906Armenia.shtml

http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/102104Armenia.shtml

http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/081902Armeni.shtml

http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/022002Armen.shtml

http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/092600Arm.shtml

My first language is Turkish, and I am from Turkey.  I visit the country frequently, and I have relatives there.  You, as an Azeri, have probably never set foot in Turkey, nor would you speak proper Turkish.  Please don't try to teach me my language.  The phrase korkak Yahudi is a well-known phrase that is used all the time and is part of the Turkish lexicon, like it or not.  Do a search for the phrase in Google and you will get 71,400 hits, all of them Turkish.  Moreover, I did not bring that term up in this article, it was mentioned by the Jewish Turk who was interviewed for the article.

As for your assertions about Armenia, why don't you write your own article and post it on a blog somewhere and discuss the topic there.  With all due respect, this particular blog is about the betrayal of Turkish Jews, not about Armenians. 

Standing up against an experienced chief Armenian editor in an Armenian dominated site is quite courageous. Comments above are evidence that not Jews but Armenians are scaredy cats. If they had the courage would the Armenians wish to ride the coattails of Holocaust denial laws in order to silence the Turks' defense regarding 1915 events?

This kind of Armenian propaganda is another effort to push a wedge between Turkey and Israel, while serving their favorite pastime which is "Turkey bashing".

Why does Katchig Mouradian not mention the sorrow felt by all Turks, Muslim or otherwise, when the Jewish synagogue was attacked in Istanbul?

5:37 am, are you suggesting that there is no anti-semitism in Turkey, a country where Mein Kempf is actually a best-seller?  Or are you attempting to divert attention from Turkey's anti-semitic policies and feelings by looking at the Armenians?  As I read Khatchig's article,  I see an attempt to explain why Abe Foxman used the plight of the Jews in Turkey as an excuse not to support the Genocide Resolution.  (You will remember that he did, however, officially acknowledge the Genocide of the Armenians).  Phantom has merely shared his own personal experiences growing up in Turkey.  Really, who are you to challenge his life?  

 Once again, you show your weakness.  Rather than actually try to debate a point you instead point the finger at someone else.  Your tactics demonstrate the flaws in your argument and more significantly, they show your continued and apparantly never-ending hatred of the Armenians.

 Additionally, you gratitiously mention the sorrow felt by the "Turks, Moslems or otherwise" after the 2003 Synagogue bombings as if this is an excuse for the Turkish policies that encite Turks to do such acts.  Turks also showed their supposed "sorrow" when Hrant Dink was gunned down by a group of young Turkish nationalists last year.  I wonder however, where are all those "sympathetic" "Turks, Moslems and otherwise" when they have an opportunity to stand up to the government that creates the policies that lead to such fervored actions?

Here is a link where you can learn all about the small Jewish community left in Armenia:

 http://www.haruth.com/JewsArmenia.html

According to the site, there were about 10,000 Jews in Armenia before 1990, from 1992 to 1994 6,000 jews emigrated due to harsh living conditions caused by the blockade of Armenia by Azerbaijan and Turkey. Presently the Armenian Jewish community numbers about 800 people. Jewish community in Armenia is allowed freedom of religion and expression by law.

Our Azeri friend should do some research before spewing out some ridiculous "facts" and assumptions.

Anoosh and Phantom, what a B.S. Who are you trying to fool by saying that this article by an Armenian author was published out of his sincere concern for Turkish Jews? Armenian diaspora members don't give a rat's ass abut Turkish or any other Jews or for that matter about any misfortunes of any other nation. Are you taking Jewcy members and everyone else for idiots?

The issue here is not anti-Semitism in Turkey, it's not even about anti-Semitism at all. The issue here (as always with Armenian nationalists) is that freakin "genocide" recognition and bashing of everything Turkish. It's about your racist and full of hate for everythign Turkish behaviour. The whole article is full of racist statements.

This is a new low that many of your diaspora members sank to. They are using issue of anti-semitism, create an ethnic conflict and try to benefit from it for their own purposes. This is sick. And any sane person understands what is a true reason for all this bull crap.

My ignorant Azeri friend,

If you do some research you will find out that there are lots of Jews with Armenian last names. Most of them became "Armenian" in the Tsarist Russia in the late 19th Century by getting baptized in the Armenian churches in Russia and taking up Armenian last names. This provided them safety from pogroms also protection of the Armenian communities within Russia.

Also there has been lots of marriages between Jews and Armenians, so one should not be surprised with a Jew having Armenian name. I'm sure you can find lots of Jews in Azerbaijan with Azeri names, but then most Azeri names are Russified anyway, so it is a bit hard to tell.

Vrezh, is that another website created or sponsored by the Government of Armenia to cover up its anti-semitic behavior? Are you sure that the entire Jewish population left Armenia because of blockade and not because of this:

http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/08/12/vernisage-yerevan/

http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2006/09/25/central-yerevan-armenia/

http://www.followtheway.info/2006/11/13/erevan-centre-ville-place-de-la-republiqueyerevan-downtown-republic-square/

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2006/09/748D4AC7-1282-4400-BEAE-0543AB69FA24.ASP

Azeri,

You are insulting Jewcy members by suggesting that they can be fooled, which you have been trying to do all along. There are very intelligent and capable people here who can do their own independent research and verify the points of any posted article here. Most Jewcy members are fully capable of having a reasonable discussion, which you can not do apparently, because you keep trying to divert attention to unrelated issues. Do you realize that you are appearing more idiotic with every post you make here?

So, it's OK when Armenian Jews have Armenian last names but when some Jews have Turkish last names in Turkey, it is anti-semitism? Are you saying that Jews don't marry Turks?

In fact, I'll tell you something about Jews having Turkish last names: When Turkish government officials were saving thousands of Jews from Nazi Germany, France and Italy and risking their own lives, they were giving out a fake Turkish citizen passports to those Jews in order to fool Nazis and give them the same protection as for Turks.

This all was happening at a time when Armenian national hero, General Dro, was leading an army of 3000 Armenians in support of Nazis. His army was not only battling Allied powers but many of their members also served as guards of Gestapo in many concentration camps. If this guy is your National Hero, then I have nothing else to say.

Vrezh, you are becoming more and more hysterical and start to make no sense what so ever :) I understand that it must be hard for you when someone uncovers your true nature.

All Jews should consider carefully what is happening here. These Armenian Agitators are not your friends! They are using you !! They have caused disruption in American Society with their lying propaganda. Now they have caused a breach in the Jewish community!! They are hate-filled people full of hatred for Turks. Their conduct is completely contrary to the standards of "No Place for Hate". They must be exposed for what they are !! We must require them to abandon their hateful, deceitful ways first. This article completely misrepresents the true state of the Jews in Turkey. Read the following article to see how Armenian children are taught to hate from a very early age. Even the author herself still is clearly unable to escape her own long-ingrained hatred:

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2006/10/hate_to_hope.php

Dont be deceived !!

Azeri moron,

You tried to claim that Head of Armenian Jewish community was forced to change her name. What I wrote was in response on that. As far as the Foregn Legions in German army, I addressed that to you before, if you forgot, go back and read it again.

Will someone at Jewcy trace this Azeri idiot's IP and permanently block him?

Vrezh, you piece of racist crap. Don't get so hysterical, you might pass out. I'll make sure to post everything about armenian racism and anti-semitism here. You shouldn't have started what you can't finish. Your lies got you too deep into your own crap and your desparate pleas to silence the truth are just as pathetic as you are yourslef.

Hey guys, just ignore this mental midget! Promise? ... This little man is probably used to playing by/with himself if left alone. ..

Jewish History in Anatolia

ANOTHER GLITTERING STONE IN THE CULTURAL MOSAIC

* In memory of Nedim Yahya, a committee member of the Quincentennial Foundation, who died September 22, 1997.

By Molly Mcanailly Burke

The umbrella of humanity

Since Ottoman times Turkey has been consistently associated with religious freedom, which paved the way for today's secular state. In the 12th century, during the time of the 3rd Crusade the brilliant Ayyubite Muslim leader Saladin had the famous Spanish philosopher and writer Maimonides, a Jew, as his personal physician, a man responsible for transmitting early books on astronomy to the west which were considered revolutionary a thousand years after being written in Harran.

When the Ottomans captured Bursa from the Byzantines in 1324 they found an oppressed Jewish community who recognized the newcomers as liberators. Sultan Orhan gave them permission to build the Etz-ha-Hayyim synagogue which was in use until recent times.

In fact so hospitable were the Ottomans to Jewish refugees that, in the early 15th century Rabbi Yitzhak Sarfati of Edirne sent a letter to Jewish communities in Europe entreating them to leave behind the torments they had endured under Christianity "and seek safety and prosperity in Turkey" as part of their path back to the Holy Land.

In the summer of 1492, under the reign of the enlightened Sultan Beyazid II whose dream it was to make his empire an "umbrella of humanity," 150,000 Sephardim escaped death or conversion under the Edict of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. They were officially welcomed into the Ottoman empire and settled in Istanbul, Edirne, Bursa, and many other cities, receiving land, tax exemptions, encouragement and assistance from the government. "The Catholic monarch Ferdinand was wrongly considered as wise" Bayazid II reportedly said, "since he impoverished his country with the expulsion of the Jews, and enriched ours." These new citizens established the first printing press in 1493, and as years went by, a number of famous Ottoman court physicians and diplomats were members of the Jewish community.

At the beginning of the 16th century the Jewish community of Istanbul numbered 30,000, making it the most important Jewish community in Europe. For many years there were more Jewish doctors in Istanbul than Muslim.

In the late 19th century Dr. Isik Pasa Molho, an Admiral in the Ottoman army, and Dr. Raphael Dalmediko, a Colonel, helped found the 98-bed Orahayim hospital, which still operates today.

One of the most important areas of Jewish settlement in Byzantine and Ottoman times was Balat, located along the upper reaches of the Golden Horn. Many of the people who lived here were from Macedonia, and during its "golden age" in the 18th and 19th centuries there were six synagogues. The oldest and most significant is the Ahrida, which predates the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul and has an altar shaped like Noah's ark.

Many Jewish denominations have also been represented in Istanbul. Aside from the Sephardim of Spain, there were Ashkenazi Jews who came from the Crimea and a Karaite minority who had a stronghold in an area near Galata tower. In 1900 the total Jewish community of Istanbul was 300,000.

In the 1930's, the revolutionary secularist leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, invited many eminent Jewish professors to escape persecution in Germany and settle in Turkey, and during the war provided a safe passage for many to Palestine.

However, since the late 1940's the Jewish community of Turkey had dwindled considerably. Over 100,000 Turkish Jews now live in Israel, and the Turkish community numbers only about 27,000, most of whom live in Istanbul. Nonetheless it boasts a large modern high school in Ulus, 16 functioning synagogues, and a Quincentennial Museum dedicated to 500 years of peace and tolerance, as well as celebrating the illustrious Jewish citizens who have contributed to the rich tapestry of Turkish culture. The newspaper "Shalom" has about 4,000 subscribers, and is printed in Turkish and Ladino. They also have an excellent bookshop with Jewish guidebooks and history books about Turkey and Ottoman times.

Jewish tourists will enjoy a stroll around the ancient district of Galata, which is home to the Neve Shalom synagogue, where many weddings and Bar Mitvahs take place today.

Turkey and the Holocaust: Turkey's Role in Rescuing Turkish and European Jewry from Nazi Persecution, 1933-1945

By Stanford J. Shaw,

"While six million Jews were being exterminated by the Nazis, the rescue of some 15,000 Turkish Jews from France, and even of some 100,000 Jews from Eastern Europe might well be considered as relatively insignificant in comparison. It was, however, very significant to the people who were rescued, and above all it showed that, as had been the case for more than five centuries, Turks and Jews continued to help each other in times of great crises."

Turkish diplomats in France spent a good deal of time organizing 'train caravans' to take Turkish Jews back to Turkey. This actually was encouraged by the Vichy government was well as the French authorities in German-occupied France as the only way to make sure that Turkish Jews were not subjected to the anti Jewish laws applied to French Jews, because the Nazi occupation officials themselves were increasingly unhappy about the exemptions and were regularly demanding that they be brought to an end. Thus the French Foreign Ministry wrote to the Turkish Embassy at Vichy on 13 January 1943, after the French finally had accepted the Turkish argument that it was illegal for them to discriminate among Turkish citizens of different religions:

To avoid the application of these measures to Turkish citizens, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be disposed to look favorably on the return of the interested parties to their countries of origin.

In the middle of 1943, the Nazi occupying authorities, inspired by Adolph Eichmann, finally issued an ultimatum to Turkey and other neutral countries that they would have to repatriate all their Jewish citizens in France, after which all those who remained would be treated the same as French Jews.

Most of the neutral countries agreed to this right away and evacuated their Jews quickly because they were able to send them home directly without having to send them through third countries. Turkey was unable to do the same because with the Mediterranean closed to shipping, the only way to send Turkish Jews back was by train through Southeastern Europe. The Nazis issued group visas for the Jews being evacuated, but the various countries located along the path of the trains were not at all anxious to help Jews escape extermination. The most notorious of these were Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, which caused many difficulties to prevent the trains from passing through their territory on their way to Turkey. Finally, however, the Turkish diplomats were able to organize some four train caravans during 1943 and eight more in 1944, which together transported some 2,000 Jews to Istanbul.

 Other Jews were helped to flee to the areas of southern France under Italian occupation, where they were treated much better until Mussolini fell and Italy was occupied by the Germans in the middle of 1943. They also fled across the Pyranees into Franco's Spain, where they were given refugee despite Spain's alliance with Germany, or across the Mediterranean to North Africa. There they were interned but not persecuted, except in Algeria, where the French colons were even more anti-Semitic than were the Germans. 

In 1944, when the Vichy government was thinking of deporting all 10,000 Turkish Jews living in its territory to the East for extermination, Turkish Foreign Minister Numan Menemencioglu intervened with the French government, on the direct orders of President Ismet Inönü, stating that such an act would be considered unfriendly by Turkey and would cause a major diplomatic incident, including perhaps a complete break in diplomatic relations. This convinced Vichy to abandon the plan and saved these Jews from almost certain death. The original correspondence on this matter has not yet been uncovered. Turkey's key roll in this matter is, however, well documented in other sources. The American Ambassador at Ankara, Laurence Steinhart, himself a Jew, wrote the head of the Jewish Agency office in Istanbul, Chaim (Charles) Barlas on 9 February 1944:

... It has been a great satisfaction to me personally to have been in a position to have intervened with at least some degree of success on behalf of former Turkish citizens in France of Jewish origin. As I explained to you yesterday, while the Vichy government has as yet given no commitment to the Turkish Government, there is every evidence that the intervention of the Turkish authorities has caused the Vichy authorities to at least postpone if altogether abandon their apparent intention to exile these unfortunates to almost certain death by turning them over to the Nazi authorities.

This is confirmed in the memoirs of Steinhart's German counterpart in Ankara, Ambassador Franz von papen, who, of course, emphasized his own role in the affair:

I learned through one of the German émigré professors that the Secretary of the Jewish Agency had asked me to intervene in the matter of the threatened deportation to camps in Poland of 10,000 Jews living in Southern France. Most of them were former Turkish citizens of Levantine origin. I promised my help and discussed the matter with m. Menemencioglu. There was no legal basis to warrant any official action on his part, but he authorized me to inform Hitler that the deportation of these former Turkish citizens would cause a sensation in Turkey and endanger friendly relations between the two countries. This demarche succeeded in quashing the whole affair.

Finally, one of Barlas's associates at the Jewish Agency office in Istanbul, Dr. Chaim Pazner, stated to the Second Yad Vashem International Historical Conference on Rescue Attempts during the Holocaust, held in Jerusalem in April 1974:

In December 1943, Chaim Barlas notified me from Istanbul that he had received a cable from Isaac Wiesman, representative of the World Jewish Congress in Lisbon, that approximately ten thousand Jews who were Turkish citizens, but had been living in France for years and had neglected to register and renew their Turkish citizenship with the Turkish representation in France, were in danger of being deported to the death camps. Weismann requrested that Barlas contact the competent Turkish authorities and attempt to save the above-mentioned Jews. Upon receiving the telegram, Barlas immediately turned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara, submitted a detailed memorandum on the subject, and requested urgent action by the Turkish legation in Paris.... We later received word from Istanbul and Paris that, with the exception of several score, these ten thousand Jews were saved from extinction.

In addition to providing material assistance to Turkish Jews persecuted in France and other countries occupied by the Nazis in Western Europe, Turkey also helped East European Jews persecuted in countries such as Greece, Lithuania, Rumania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Right from the start of the war, the Turkish government permitted the Jewish Agency to maintain a rescue office at the Pera Palas and other hotels in the Tepebasi section of Istanbul, overlooking the Golden Horn, under the direction of Chaim (Charles) Barlas, as we have seen. Ina ddition, other Jewish organizations based in Palestine were allowed to maintain representative offices in Istanbul. Many were sent by kibbutzim wanting to rescue members from persecution or death in Eastern Europe. First, however, they had to learn what was going on in those countries. Fore this purpose they sent their agents from Istanbul to these countries to gather information. They used the Turkish post office to send letters to Jews in these countries and toreceive responses. They sent packages of clothing and food to help out when needed. In all of these activities, the Turkish Ministry of Finance, despite Turkey's severe financial problems resulting from the war, provided them with the hard currency needed to meet their expenses, and the Turkish diplomats stationed in these countries allowed their facilities to be used when needed.

With this help, the Jewish rescue groups based in Istanbul were able to organize trains and steamships which carried to safety in Turkey and beyond as many refugees that could leave their homes. In this they were vigorously opposed, not only by the Nazis, but also by the British government, which correctly feared that most of the refugees arriving in Turkey would go on in Palestine. Turkey as a matter of fact made this a condition of its agreement to allow these refugees to enter its territory. It would not support large number of immigrants of this sort since people in Turkey were already starving as a result of wartime shortages and blockades in the Mediterranean. It did allow the Jewish Agency and other organizations to bring these refugees through Turkey on their way to Palestine, however, permitting the Mossad organization to send them in small boats across the Mediterranean from southern Turkey. When the British were successful in preventing some of these refugees from going to Palestine, instead interring them on Cyprus, the Turkish government allowed them to remain in Turkey far beyond the limits of their transit visas, in many cases right until the end of the war.

The Vatican's reluctance to help the persecuted Jews of Europe is well documented. This was not the case, however, with the Papal Nuncio in Istanbul from 1935 until 1944, Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII. Roncalli was a very unusual person. When he first came to Turkey even before the war, he taught his parishioners, including many Greeks and Armenians, that they should forget their prejudices against Turks and Muslims, that they should follow the precepts of Christian charity and love in dealing with them, that they should forget the bigotries of the past and work together with their fellow Turkish citizens to build a new and modern Republic. Roncalli learned Turkish himself and recited the Christmas mass in Turkish at least one in Istanbul. This greatly pleased the Turkish people, who had become increasingly disgusted with the insistence of Christians in Turkey to continue using Greek, Italian, French or Armenian in preference to Turkish, unlike the Jews who had emphasized the ue of Turkish instead of French and Ladino since the mid 1930's. During the war Roncalli went much further. He got the Sisters of Sion order of nuns to use their own communications network in Eastern Europe to help the Jewish Agency pass communications, clothing and food to Jews in Hungary in particular. Other Vatican couriers going from Istanbul to Eastern Europe did the same thing as the result of Roncalli's orders. He even got them to carry false Certificates of Conversion to Hungarian Jews to help save them from the Nazis. A remarkable person indeed, early in the year 2000 was recognized as a Saint by the Catholic Church.

Turkey also acted to help the Jews of Greece during the Holocaust. Just as was the case in the areas of southern France occupied by Italy, so also in Greece, during the time it was under Italian occupation early in the war, Greek Jews did reasonably well, despite pressure from Greeks themselves, whose long tradition of anti-Semitism led them to hope that the foreign occupation would at least enable them to get rid of their Jewish fellow-citizens. Even after German troops entered Greece to help the Italians against Greek guerilla resistance. The Italian troops protected Greek Jews from persecution at the hands of the Germans and the Greeks. Once Italy fell out of the war in 1943 and the Germans took over, however, the situation of Jews in Greece became worse than anywhere else in Europe, since while many Frenchmen and Dutchmen, and egven Germans had helped the Jews to escape the Nazi persecution, most Greeks did none of this due to their long history of pervasive anti-Semitism. The only Greeks who helped Jewswere the partisans fighting against the Nazis, who did help Jewish groups spiriting Jews out of Greece, either across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean to Turkey or Palestine, or by land across the Maritza river into Turkey. Most Greek jews were in fact exterminated by the Nazis. Jewish synagogues and schools were systematically destroyed. Even the great Jewish cemetery at Salonica was wiped out. After the war, instead of restoring it, Greece built the new Aristotle University of Salonica on the cemetery lands.. The Turkish consuls in Greece, at Athens, Salonica and Gümülcine as well as on the islands of Midilli and Rhodes provided the same sort of assistance that the Turkish consuls did in France, also organizing boats to carry Jews to safety in Turkey and intervening with the Germans to exempt Turkish Jews from persecution and extermination. The most outstanding example of this came with the activities of Consul Selahattin Ülkümen in Rhodes, who got the Nazis to spare the Turkish Jews on the island, and who as a result was subsequently imprisoned by the Nazis after his consulate was bombed and his pregnant wife killed by the Germans. The Turkish guards on the Greek-Turkish border allowed Jews coming from Greece as well as Bulgaria to enter turkey even though most of them had no papers at all. Camps were set up for them near Edirne, and ultimately they were allowed to pass on to Istanbul, and, for most of them, to join the other refugees doing by small boats from the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey to Palestine. Turkey thus provided major assistance to Jews being persecuted by the Nazis, despite pressure from the British, who wanted to stop Jewish immigration to Palestine, and by the Nazis, who demanded not only that this rescue work be stopped, but also that all Turkish Jews, as well as the refugees, be sent to Germany for extermination. Turkey steadfastly refused these demands and continued to assist European Jewry to escape from the Holocaust and in most cases go to Palestine. . Only after it was assured of an Allied victory, and the impossibility of a German invasion, by late 1943, was it ready to enter the war. Even then, however, it reacted to appeals for delay from the Jewish Agency, which understood that immediate Turkish entry would cut off the escape routes through Turkey which were enabling thousand of Jews to escape the Nazis throughout Europe, postponing its entry for almost a year. While six million Jews were being exterminated by the Nazis, the rescue of some 15,000 Turkish Jews from France, and even of some 100,000 Jews from Eastern Europe might well be considered as relatively insignificant in comparison. It was, however, very significant to the people who were rescued, and above all it showed that, as had been the case for more than five centuries, Turks and Jews continued to help each other in times of great crises.

Stanford J. Shaw is Professor Emeritus of Turkish History, University of California Los Angeles Professor of Turkish History, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

Bibliography :

Stanford J. Shaw, Turkey and the Holocaust: Turkey's Role in Rescuing Turkish and European Jewry from Nazi Persecution, 1933-1945.

Stanford J. Shaw, The Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic. Both books were published both by the New York University Press and by MacMillian publishers in England (now called Palgrave Publishers).

Unfortunately the American editions, which were in paperback, are out of print, but I understand that the British editions (only in hardcover) are still available.

ISTANBUL (EJP)---The Jewish Community in Turkey has expressed regret over the position adopted by a US Jewish group on the issue of the genocide of Armenians.

In a statement published in the Turkish press, the Jewish community stressed Thursday that it endorses Turkey’s position that this question should be debated at academic level with full access to the archives of all concerned parties, and that parliaments are not the appropriate platforms for finding the truth about historical events.

Ankara categorically rejects the genocide label, saying that both Armenians and Turks died in civil strife during World War I when the Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire.

The New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a major Jewish organizations in the US, on Tuesday reversed its longtime policy by calling the killing of Armenians a genocide, days after it fired a regional director for taking the same position.

ADL’s national director Abraham Foxman said in a statement that the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Muslim Turks “were indeed tantamount to genocide.”

The change in ADL’s position came after weeks of controversy in which critics questioned whether an organization dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism in the world and remembering Holocaust victims could remain credible without acknowledging the Armenian killings as genocide.

Another major organization, the American Jewish Committee, took a similar step and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations reportedly was considering discussing the matter.

In its statement, Silvio Ovadio, head of the Jewish community in Turkey, said: “We have difficulty in understanding this immediate change of view among some Jewish organizations in the US.”

The statement added: “We would like to stress that the news reports that begin with the term “Jews” in local websites may mislead the public, whereas this change in position reflects only the views of some American Jewish organizations.”

“Our state institutions are well aware of our long time efforts to defend Turkey’s interests and theses, and our efforts will continue.”

In a letter to Abraham Foxman, a prominent Turkish Jewish businessman, Jak Kamhi, said: “By accepting this false comparison between the uniquely indisputable genocide for which the term was coined -- the Holocaust, and the events of 1915, the ADL has committed an act of the most inexplicable injustice against the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, as well as against the sensitivities and pride of the Turkish people, who deserve your praise for their centuries-long tradition of compassion and their culture of humanity and cohabitation that remains an example to the world.”

Around 27,000 Jews live in Turkey, of which 24,500 in Istanbul.

Two separate resolutions are pending in the US Senate and House of Representatives, urging the administration to recognize the killings of Armenians as genocide.

Turkey has warned that passage of the resolutions in the US Congress would seriously harm relations with Washington and impair cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

No change in Israel’s stance

The Israeli embassy in Turkey has stressed that there has been “no change” in Israel’s official stance on the issue.

“As Jews and as Israelis we are especially sensitive and morally obligated to remember human tragedies, which include the killings that took place among the Armenian population during the latter part of the First World War, in the years 1915-1916, during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.”

“The State of Israel has never denied these horrible events; on the contrary, we understand the intensity of the emotion connected with this matter on both sides, considering the high number of victims and terrible suffering which the Armenian people endured,” the embassy said.

“Yet, notwithstanding this, over the years, the subject, undesirably, has become a loaded political issue between the Armenians and the Turks, and each side has been trying to prove the justice of its claims.”

“The State of Israel, therefore, asks that neither one side nor the other be taken and that no definitions be made of what happened. We hope that both sides will enter into an open dialogue which will enable them to heal the open wounds that have remained for many decades,” the statement concluded.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the Turkish ambassador is set to return to Israel earlier from his vacation to express concerns about the ADL’s position.

Turkish Prime Minister recept Tayyip Erdogan was expected to call his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert in the coming days to discuss the matter.

Turkey and the Jews

by Daniel Pipes

Jewish communities still extant in Muslim countries tend to be weak and without a future, mere shells of the vital populations that existed half a century ago. Anyone with energy or ambition long ago fled Iran, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, or Tunisia; those who remain barely eke out a living. They have no role to speak of in the business or intellectual life of their countries; politically they count only as potential victims or as hostages to be bartered away. In The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times (1991), Norman Stillman accurately described them as "a small, vestigial, and moribund remnant."

How different in Turkey! Here Jews, as in the West, play a disproportionate role in the life of the country. During a visit not long ago to Istanbul (the city where nearly all the Turkish Jews live), I had an opportunity to meet two of the country's tycoons, both Jewish. Jefi I. Kamhi is the flamboyant, jet-setting chairman of Profilo, a company which produces almost everything you can think of (prefabricated construction units, white goods, parts and accessories); in addition, it imports and exports, distributes consumer durables, and invests.

Üzeyir Garih, CEO of Alarco, is a more restrained figure; his company contracts projects, engineers them, and specializes in building big-ticket items such as pipelines, gas storage terminals, refineries, textile factories and office complexes. Both men are active in business associations, are counted among their country's leading philanthropists, and have strong ties to the highest political circles.

Thanks to their knowledge of European languages and foreign contacts, Jewish businessmen have played an important role in the expansion of Turkish companies into international markets. They also have a prominent role in fashion, advertising, and banking; for example, Jews dominate Istanbul's Tahtakale money market and effectively set the dollar exchange rate for Turkey's currency. These Jews are not small, vestigial, or moribund.

And it's not just the businessmen. I didn't get to see Sami Kohen this trip, but he's been for many the foreign affairs columnist for Turkey's largest circulation daily newspaper Milliyet, where he writes a sophisticated analysis of his country's geopoliticals, as well as frequently contributing to such American papers as the The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times. Other Jews teach at the universities and work for the government, where they serve as diplomats and hold other positions of responsibility. In short, unlike the dying Jewish communities in other parts of the Muslim Middle East, the one in Turkey is vibrant and influential.

Interestingly, other Jews -- those of Israel and the United States -- also have a role in Turkey. In extensive talks with officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office, I found a consistent interest in strengthening ties with Israel, and near delight with September's Israel-PLO agreement because it hastens this process. These analysts see Israel in a variety of ways: as a trading partner, a fellow democracy to help stabilize the region, an ally which can help deal with the Iranian and Syrian regimes, and a means of access to Washington. The first-ever visit by Turkey's Foreign Minister Hikmet Çetin to Israel last November consolidated these ties and raised high hopes for the future.

Which brings us to American Jews. One Turkish analyst pointed out to me that many of the leading American scholars of Turkey are Jewish (including Bernard Lewis, Stanford Shaw, and Avigdor Levy). A Foreign Ministry official who noted that Turkey's strongest advocates in the United States are Jewish, mentioning specifically Richard Perle and Douglas Feith, concluded with the comment, "We love American Jews." Turkey's government despairs of a Turkish lobby ever emerging in the United States which will be capable of standing up to the Greeks and Armenians; in the meantime, it counts on Jews to make the argument for Turkey in Washington. More effectively than anyone else, these individuals point out Turkey's importance as an ally in an especially turbulent part of the world (for example, vis-à-vis Iraq); its positive influence in the Middle East as an enduring democracy; and its importance as a model of secularism for the Muslim world as a whole.

Of course, Turkey also has its share of fundamentalist Muslims, fascists and other forms of anti-Semite. Like their counterparts elsewhere, these spread conspiracy theories about Jews and fulminate against Israel. But in Turkey, unlike Iran and the Arab countries, these people don't make policy, nor do conspiracy theories dominate political thinking. Perhaps most important, Turks don't engage in violence against Jews. (It was foreigners, not Turks, who carried out the one major act of violence against Turkey's Jews, the 1986 bombing of Neve Shalom Synagogue.)

There's every reason to think the good news will continue in the years ahead -- that Jews of Turkey will flourish; that Ankara's relations with Israel will expand; and that American Jews will play a valuable role explaining Turkey in the United States. With regard to Jews, as is the case in so many other ways, Turkey has successfully removed itself from the paranoia and repression of the Middle East and made itself a part of the West.

The Mediterranean

The Jews of Turkey and Greece ate foods inspired by Ottoman cuisine.

By Copeland Marks

Excerpted and reprinted with permission from Sephardic Cooking, published by Donald I. Fine, Inc.

Turkey

At the time that the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, Turkey was the center of the Ottoman Empire, which existed from the late 13th century to its decline in 1924, when Kemal Ataturk, the designer of modern Turkey, abolished the Ottoman caliphate. Sultan Beyazit II, who reigned from 1482‑1512, responding to the expulsion with compassion but also a degree of opportunism, rescued the Jews from the Inquisition, causing the famous 16th‑century historian Rabbi Eliyahu Capsali to relate: “So the 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 may be wicked enough to refuse entry to the Jews or expel them.” 

After that edict, Turkey, the Middle East, and the Balkans opened up their borders. Tens of thousands of expelled Jews came to Turkey. (Were they the boat people of the 15th century?) Istanbul, Salonika, Greece, and Izmir (formerly Smyrna) became important centers of the Sephardim.

The Iberian Jews of Spain and Portugal were highly educated in the professions, in international trade, finance, and medicine, and Sultan Beyazit, knowing this full well, welcomed this transfusion of human talent into Turkey. The Jews brought the first printing press to the Ottoman Empire, for example, and established a printing industry in 1494, two years after the expulsion.

They were not alone in their religion. They found, upon arrival in Turkey, Jews who were long‑time inhabitants of the region and known as Romaniates, pre‑Ottoman Empire Jews who were named thus through their early Roman connections. These Romaniates were ultimately, after some years, absorbed by the Sephardim.

The Jews lived in their own areas, maintained their own organizations, and created their own cuisine. Jewish men went forth into the cities to work, while the women for the most part remained at home. A lady from Izmir explained the Jewish cooking by saying that “The Turks borrowed from us and we from them.” Cooking rules and recipes were passed down from mother to daughter and resulted in a continuity of culinary ideas throughout the centuries and to the present.

There were two components that combined to develop Sephardic cooking in Turkey—Spanish heritage and Turkish culture. This was a gradual osmosis and not a rapid modification of existing cooking styles. The availability of fresh produce is an important factor in the creation of a cuisine and, in this case, new ideas were developed around ingredients that were available and inexpensive, like the eggplant.

Jewish desserts were strongly influenced by the extraordinary capacity for sweets so dear to the Turkish palate. Syrups are lavishly used to enrich the pastries and provide a melting texture to cakes. Strong seasonings are hardly ever used in the Sephardic cuisine except for an occasional sprinkling of hot chili flakes. Chicken, beef, and lamb are the meats of choice, but in recent years less beef and lamb are used since red meat is now considered unhealthy. Cholesterol has entered the thinking of the Sephardic kitchen, and has even influenced the choice of cooking oil—sunflower has become the most popular. Duck is never eaten. I never saw a duck in Turkey (nor did I see a turkey!).

The Sephardic kitchen relies on appealing combinations of meats, vegetables, or fish served up in casseroles, pies, stuffed vegetables or pastries, and Yufka (wrapped appetizers and snacks). The tendency is to bake foods or simmer them on top of the stove. The large meat roasts of European cooking are unknown. Bread is the staff of life, and rice, in the form of seasoned and garnished dishes, is not far behind.

Greece

There was an overlapping, rather than a sharp differentiation, between Jewish life in Greece and Turkey. Both countries were of the Ottoman Empire and there was a homogenization of both culinary and cultural Judaic activities. Without doubt, the Ottoman was the single strongest influence on the cooking—with emphasis on the sweets. But the native recipes were supplemented by those brought from Spain by the Jews, and those recipes continued to carry Ladino titles.

As in Turkey, the cooking consists largely of casseroles in the ovens, stews on top of the stove, and preparations wrapped in fillo (culminating in the great classic Spanakopeta). Vegetables are important ingredients in this cooking, stewed or enrobed in fillo. Strong seasonings are even less important to the Greek palate than to the Turkish. The flavors result from the natural combinations of poultry, lamb, or fish and a variety of herbs and greens. The reign of the eggplant in Greece and Turkey is permanent. There are those who say that Greek cooking is no more than a satellite of the Turkish, but I am not of this opinion.

No cuisine is established in isolation nor is Sephardic cooking in Greece a carbon copy of that found in Turkey, although both clearly show the Ottoman influence.

Copeland Marks has written numerous cookbooks, including The Great Book of Couscous and The Exotic Kitchens of Peru.

Terrific, Our contentious posters have established the following:

1.  There is no anti-semitism in Turkey.

2.  Turkish Jews are treated grandly, holding important posts and serving as leaders of industry.

SO, then I guess Abe Foxman has nothing to worry about and he can go ahead and show his full support for the Armenian Genocide Resolution in Congress.  His concerns about the safety of Jews in Turkey are absolutely unfounded (as our arguementative little posters above have so convincingly shown us) so now that he has nothing more to worry about he can stand up and openly support all victims of genocide in their quest for genocide recognition.  Hurray!!  Thank you for getting so messed up in your idiotic arguements that you are actually arguing against yourselves!!!

And another thing that is bothing me is that the Azeri and Turkish denialists on this site are absolutely silent when we remind them that the International Association of Genocide Scholars has (time and time again) studied this issue ad infinitum and stated UNEQUIVOCALLY that the Ottoman Turks committed a GENOCIDE against the Armenians from 1915-1923.  This group of the most learned scholars in the world on the subject of genocide has clearly said that there is no need for any "joint commission", "further studies", etc.  So, deniers, why don't you share your credentials with us and we can compare them with the  members of that group (many of whom are Jewish by the way; and NONE of them are paid by any government as your so-called experts are!)

Anoosh, I don't understand, you are so concerned about Jewish population in Turkey or you are just using Jews for the recognition of your so-called "genocide"? Why are you talking about armenian "genocide" here? I thought you said that the article has nothing to do with that? I provided you with articles from Jewish organizations, individuals and independent Western sources that Jews in Turkey do not face persecution or anti-Semitism as is falsely commented in the article. You make no sense what so ever, arguing with Jews who actually live in Turkey. It's absolutely bizzare. Do you actually hear yourself or your brains have no place for common sense being filled with hatred of anything Turkish? Well, what am I expecting from a person who claimed that Encyclopedia Britannica is an unreliable source.

By the way, Anoosh, you still havn't answered me if you feel sad for innocent Turks and Azeris who have been massacred by Armenian nationalists. We've established already that there were such civilian Azeris and Turks who have been murdered by Dashnaks but for some reason you constantly try to avoid saying that you feel bad (or don't) for what has happened to them. Even though I, for my part, did state that I wish no innocent Armenian would have died and feel that killings of civilian Armenians is completely unacceptable, you are still silent on that issue. Are you really for justice, human rights and reconciliation or is it just a racism and hatred hiding behind all this B.S.?

1.  The post that we are all commenting on is directly related to Abe Foxman and his position on the Armenian Genocide.  That is why I am "talking about it." 

2.   Of course I am concerned about the persecution of Jews in Turkey.  I am concerned about the persecution of Armenians in Turkey as well.  I am concerned about the persecution of anyone anywhere.  Unlike you, my sympathies are not limited to those who may share my heritage.

3.  I never said that the Encyclopedia Britannica was a poor source.  I said that your free for all, will accept all comments and writings resources were poor sources.  By the way, the Encyclopedia Brittanica 1911 has been discredited as an authoritative source because it replete with inaccuracies.  Do a bit of research, unnamed Ano.  (When will you ever share your name...or do you prefer the cloak of anonymity?)  Moreover, how can you rely on a source published in 1911 when you are using it for authority to deny the Armenian Genocide of 1915???

4.  I feel as horribly for any Azeris who may have been killed in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan as I feel for the Armenians killed during that war and the Armenians killed by Azeris during the Baku and Sumgait pograms.   A life is a life and has immense significance no matter the nationality.   The 1.5 million Armenian lives extinguished in 1915 by the government that you fight so hard to defend are important to me as well.  I am not refusing to answer you nimbisylic question, I am staying on the topic of the posts herein and not falling prey to your poor strategy of pointing the finger at someone else to avoid blame. 

5.  Still waiting for you answer to the International Association of Genocide Scholars and their unequovocal statements about the Armenian Genocide.

What are you talking about? This article, as you said yourself, has nothing to do with Armenian "genocide" issue. If you are so concerned about everyone, then how come you do not condemn the actions of Armenian forces taken in Khojaly and the whole Karbakh? How come you don't talk about Dashnaks who massacred Turkish civilians? How come you contuinue to defend those murdurers and continue your denial along with other racist Armenian nationalists?

About Encyclopedia 1911: don't twist the facts. You know very well that when I presented you with the facts from that source, I wasn't talking about "genocide". At that time you were arguing with me about population of Nakhchivan in historical times. I gave you facts from various sources and every independent source that supports Azeri or Turkish version of the history is labeled by you either "unreliable" or "Turkish Government sponsored". You even reject your own Armenian sources.

International Association of Genocide Scholars is a private (profit) organization and not a scholarly institution. They have ther own agenda and can be easily influenced either financially or through a strong diaspora. All of the experts on Ottoman Empire and Middle East rejected the claim of genocide. And those experts are not only from U.S. but also from Canada, France and Great Britain. But, off course, all of these experts are labeled by you as "denialists", who got secretely paid by Turksih Government. Ridiculous. In order to accuse someone of Genocide, you must first prove it in independent international court. Jewish Holocaust, Rwanda Genocide, Bosnian Genocide - all of these Genocides had their independent trials. So, why won't Armenians go to Haague International Court and prove it there? Armenian president refused to do so 3 times. Why? Scared to reveal your own massacres? Innocence is presumed until proven guilty in court. So far, Armenians have nothing official that proves the events of 1915 as Genocide. So far, these are all empty words and libel against other nation.

By the way, Azerbaijani community of NY just received an official appology from the newspaper "V Novom Svete" for publishing photos of mutilated bodies of children killed in Khojaly and presenting them as victims of "armenian genocide". The editor in-chief said that the photos and the text were presented to him by his ethnically Armenian journalist, Eduard Pariyants, and that he didn't even think that someone could forge something like that and sink that low.

The newspaper now features an article by the editor, Michael Gusev, who appologizes to the public and condemns actions of newspaper's Armenian journalist. Actually, that article has a detail description of Khojaly Genocide (examples from various independent sources) and emphasizes that a member of U.S. Parliament's International Committee, Dan Barton, called on the Congress to recognize Khojaly events as a Genocide.

This newspaper is a Russian-language newspaper and so both articles were in Russian language. But soon, we will present the evidence of yet anothe r Armenian forgery with the translation in English.

This is the sickest act of Armenian diaspora and one of many forgeries that armenian nationalists try to present as facts to prove their so-called armenian "genocide". 

Thanks for your feedback.  I will pass your thoughts on to Israel Charny and Elie Wiesel....

With respect to your beloved Encyclopedia Britannica (1911) that you are so happy to quote as a source,  I already told you that it is not a valid resource.  Do you need any example, Friend??  Read the quote below which was under the term "Negro" in that book and you will understand why we can't consider it a valid resource.  Maybe even you will agree that a resource that contains information like this cannot be used as anything more than kitty box liner.

"Negro- For the rest, the mental constitution of the negro is very similar to that of a child, normally good-natured and cheerful, but subject to sudden fits of emotion and passion during which he is capable of performing acts of singular atrocity, impressionable, vain, but often exhibiting in the capacity of servant a dog-like fidelity which has stood the supreme test."   Encyclopedia Britannica (1911).

 You know, Azeri/Turk denier, I am getting