Anti-Semitism in Turkey

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The anti-Semitism in Turkey is in Turkey anchored in society, despite protestations to the contrary, especially in nationalist or Muslim-conservative circles. Anti-Semitism manifests itself in conspiracy theories , anti-Zionism or in political disputes in which opponents are defamed either as Dönme , Sabetaycılar or Jews. In books, newspapers and television programs, the alleged Jewish origins of certain people are "exposed" with the aim of defaming them.

Historical background

Jewish communities already lived in Anatolia in pre-Islamic times. The oldest community was found in today's Bursa. The Jews in the Ottoman Empire were a heterogeneous community. Mention should be made of the Romaniots , Karaites , Ashkenazim and, last but not least, the Sephardim , who settled in the Ottoman Empire after a Ferman after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th and 16th centuries . In the 19th century, Jews lived as an independent millet in the Ottoman Empire. The largest communities in what is now Turkey's territory lived in Istanbul, the Aegean Sea and Eastern Thrace. Other communities lived in Diyarbakır , İzmir , Mardin , Adana , Antakya , Mersin , Van and Tokat . The earliest cause of today's resentment against Jews was the forced conversion Shabbtai Zvis , who had previously proclaimed himself Messiah ( Sabbatianism ). His followers also converted, but, according to the popular belief, they clung to their old beliefs as crypto-Jewish dönme .

Despite discriminatory restrictions and despite ritual murder legends such as the Damascus affair with subsequent riots, the Jews in the Ottoman Empire had legal rights. They enjoyed freedom of religion, freedom of establishment, freedom of choice of profession, freedom of travel and the right to regulate their own internal affairs. They were exempted from military service against payment of the Haraç and Cizye . Jews founded synagogues and their own educational and cultural institutions. After the founding of the Republic of Turkey, these rights were continued in the Lausanne Treaty in 1923 . Only two years later, however, the Jewish community did not voluntarily renounce the special rights granted to them under Article 42 of the treaty.

In secular Turkey, Jewish communities were subject to restrictions, as were Muslim and Christian institutions. In 1927 the estimated number of Jews in Turkey was approximately 81,400. The number of Jews in the country fell sharply after the Second World War due to the aliyah of Jews from Turkey. About 17,000 Jews remained in Turkey in the second decade of the 21st century. The vast majority live in Istanbul. Individuals or families live in Ankara, Edirne or Adana, for example.

The government's policy in the early years of the republic was primarily aimed at creating a homogeneous population. With regard to the Jews, it possibly aimed to encourage emigration. According to Mehmet Fuat Köprülü , Jews were considered by the Turkish leadership , unlike the other two officially recognized minorities such as Greeks and Armenians, as the only non-Muslim minority that could be turned into turquoise. They were therefore exposed to particularly high pressure to assimilate. The first public debate about the Dönme developed as early as 1924 when a certain Karakaşzade Mehmet Rüştü Efendi, who was himself a Dönme of the Karakaşlar sect, brought in a petition to forbid marriage between Turks and Dönme, as his co-religionists were neither in racial, morally or spiritually are Turks. One of the protagonists of the Turkish nationalists of Jewish origin was Munis Tekinalp . The adaptation of the Dönme and Jews did not, however, lead to the ebb of resentment or conspiracy theories about the influence of crypto Jews . The Kemalist press in the early years of the republic spread a negative image of the Jews. In addition, under the influence of Cevat Rıfat Atilhan and Nihal Atsız, a clearly racist and anti-Semitic press emerged. Magazines such as Bozkurt , Orhun , Çınaraltı or Millî İnkılâp appeared that were hardly inferior to Nazism. The repatriation of Jews by Turkish diplomats such as Selahattin Ülkümen , Behiç Erkin or Necdet Kent also shows that Turkish officials disregarded state measures for former Turkish Jews and thus saved hundreds of Jews from the Shoah .

According to Jacob M. Landau, anti-Semitism was still a peripheral phenomenon in Turkey in the late 1980s . In 1992, the 500-year presence of the Jews in the country following their expulsion from Spain was honored with a state ceremony. The Hakham Bashi İshak Haleva reiterated after the anti-Semitic attack on the Istanbul synagogues in 2003, there was in terms of anti-Semitism no problems in Turkey. Benlisoy, on the other hand, wrote in 2014 that anti-Semitism was no longer a matter for extremists in the country and should be condemned. He had arrived in the middle of society.

Anti-Semitism has never been adequately analyzed in the Turkish media and has not been researched by Turkish scientists. Anti-Semitism was not seen as a problem affecting Turkey or the Turks. In addition, there were and are firmly established ideas about Jews and Israel: Israel is an exploitative state that oppresses the Palestinians. Jews would suspect an anti-Semite under every stone and label criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism. In addition, Jews would continually talk about and benefit from the Holocaust . They also use the Holocaust to cover up the genocide they committed against the Palestinians.

Anti-Semitic pogroms and attacks against Jewish institutions

There were riots and attacks against Jews in Turkey. These include the Elza Niyego riots (1927), the Thrace pogrom (1934), the Varlık Vergisi (1942), the attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Neve Shalom synagogue (Istanbul) (1986), the terrorist attacks against Synagogues in Istanbul (2003) and the murder of the Jewish dentist Yasef Yahya.

Causes and function

Although anti-Semitic riots can be described, the motives of the perpetrators remain unknown, as the sources do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about them. In addition to hatred of Jews by individuals, economic interests such as eliminating a competitor probably played a role. The breeding ground for anti-Semitism among the majority of the population is Turkish nationalism and the associated feeling of superiority, which is expressed in expressions such as “Bir Türk Dünyaya bedeldir” (a Turk outweighs the whole world). Another factor that fuels anti-Semitism is Islamic anti-Semitism. This means anti-Judaism , which is based on anti-Jewish aspects from the Koran and Hadith . Then there is the deeply rooted anti-Zionism and the rejection of Israel, for whose policies the Turkish Jews are also held responsible. In addition, one expected gratitude from the Jews, since in earlier times - this is the common belief - they were received by the hospitable Turks after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula.

conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories in Turkey are an indicator of anti-Semitism. Many conspiracy theories have in common the fear that Turkey will be divided and destroyed again by dark forces. These conspiracy theories are subsumed under the Sèvres syndrome . The role of evil is ascribed either to Jews, the Mossad , Israel or the Zionists . A classic among these anti-Semitic conspiracy theories is the conviction that the Southeast Anatolia Project was initiated by Jews in order to annex the Eretz Israel region . For example, the social democrat Rahşan Ecevit advocated this theory.

When Theodor Herzl, during a visit in May 1901, suggested to Sultan Abdülhamid II that they buy Palestine in order to settle Jews there, the Sultan had refused. One of the most popular conspiracy theories shared by Turkish, Kurdish and even Armenian intellectuals is that "the Jews" took revenge by instigating the 1908 Young Turkish Revolution , in which Jews, kebabs and Freemasons played a leading role . This makes Jews responsible for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Israel is often suspected of being the mastermind behind the Islamic State in Turkey. Because, according to the popular declaration, ISIS never attacked Israel. A dog does not bite its master. The decline in values ​​is understood across ideology as the work of imperialism. In this notion , this imperialism is instrumentalizing prostitution , gambling and drugs in order to dominate the people. According to popular belief, behind imperialism is finance capital and thus the Jewish lobby. This notion is common to Islamic, nationalist and leftist circles. The explicit mention of Jews is avoided by using terms such as Faiz lobisi (interest lobby), Mossad, Dönme , Siyonistler (Zionists), Sabetaycılar (followers of Shabbtai Zvi), tefeciler (usurers), Baronlar (barons).

Islamic-conservative anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism is deeply rooted in Islamic and nationalist circles in Turkey. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion , an anti-Semitic forgery, are often taken at face value in publications and media of this class. The Palestinian question played a large part in the spread of Islamic anti-Semitism. The Palestinians are perceived as victims of Israeli, Zionist or simply Jewish aggression, and as co-religionists they have a special solidarity. Anti-Semitism is often seen in these circles as a phenomenon that has been imported by Arab nationalism and is therefore alien to the Turkish tradition.

The anti-Semite and admirer of Hitler Cevat Rıfat Atilhan founded the İslam Demokratie Partisi (İDP) in 1951 , which was soon banned again. Anti-Jewish rhetoric as one of the dominant issues in political Islam goes back largely to the İDP and the books of Atilhan. With the founding of Millî Nizam Partisi in 1969 by Necmettin Erbakan , anti-Semitic rhetoric gained broader penetration into the political debate. The Millî Gazete as the mouthpiece of Erbakan's Millî Görüş movement spread anti-Semitic stereotypes and conspiracy theories from 1972 onwards. In Erbakan's speeches, anti-Semitic slander and Zionism accounted for 12 percent.

Examples

Main article: List of conspiracy theories in Turkey

In 1998 the Millî Gazete spread that the Holocaust and the gas chambers were Zionist lies. Abdurrahim Karakoç praised Adolf Hitler as a man of great foresight in his column in the Vakit . The columnist Aslan Tekin of the newspaper Yenicağ demanded that the content of Mein Kampf should be included in the school curriculum. Hüseyin Üzmez , columnist for the Vakit, which is banned in Germany, took the view that Hitler's persecution of the Jews was rather exaggerated. Yusuf Kaplan , the author of the Islamic Yeni Şafak, wrote that fanaticism was part of the Jewish character. Jews ruled the western universities and the world's media and shaped the politics, economics and culture of the western world. As Deputy Prime Minister of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, Beşir Atalay nourished the image of the sinister Jew and usurer, who is capable of everything and has a hand in everything. The Jews are a secret power and were among the protagonists of the Gezi plot . Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wrote the anti-Semitic play Mas-Kom-Yah when he was in his early 20s .

Anti-Semitism in secular circles

Anti-Jewish clichés are also becoming visible in the liberal mainstream of Turkey. The basis here is anti-imperialism and the corresponding view of Israel as the extended arm of the USA. In addition, Zionism is viewed here as an aggressive ideology and has sympathy for the Palestinians. The defamation of opponents as alleged Jews can also be observed.

Examples

When Yunus Nadi , the founder of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, was criticized by the editor-in-chief of the daily Tan for behaving like a feudal petty prince (Derebey), in 1937 Nadi used a fictional Jewish origin of his critic as a rhetorical device in a replica. This is a grandson of the Jewish spoiler Shabbtai Zvi , who changed his religion out of lies. For example, Can Dündar wrote in Sabah in 2000 that Hollywood films about World War II were mainly made with Jewish capital, so it is commonly believed that Jews were the only victims of the war. The Turkish left, in particular, has barely addressed overt anti-Semitism. Erbakan, the protagonist of anti-Semitism, was viewed in false solidarity by liberal circles as a victim of Kemalist harassment. Perhaps that mentality also played a role, as revealed in a Turkish proverb: “The snake that doesn't bite me may live a thousand years.” In addition, columnists, who play a special role in the Turkish media landscape, shied away from being friends Israel to be stamped. It was also often the case that liberal columnists criticized conspiracy theories of right-wing or Islamic circles, but did not address their anti-Semitic character.

Kurds

Reasons for the Kurdish hostility towards Jews

Kurdish nationalists often regard Dönme as hostile and come very close to anti-Semitism. The reasons for this show similarities with Turkish nationalists, but also differences. The dönme were originally a topic of right-wing Turks. They made terms like Selanikli (coming from Saloniki), Dönme and Selanik Dönmesi (Dönme from Saloniki) part of popular political culture in Turkey. Kurdish authors and intellectuals also devoted themselves to the topic.

The historian Rıfat N. Bali has observed a hostile attitude towards the kebab by Kurdish authors since the rise of Kurdish nationalism. He explains this and a. with their conviction that it was the kebabs who had determined Turkey's economic life from the start. The accusation of an opponent of being a dönme serves as a sharp weapon in the political dispute, which Kurdish intellectuals also used. According to Rıfat N. Bali, kebabs served as a sacrificial lamb that helped prevent Kurds (and Turks) from facing their role in the Armenian genocide. The Kurds in particular were exposed to the policy of Turkization and the one who was primarily associated with it was the Jew Moiz Kohen, alias Munis Tekinalp , one of the fathers of the idea of ​​Turkization . His book Türkleştirme was the ideological basis of Turkishization. This circumstance caused Kurdish intellectuals to have negative affects towards Jews.

With the start of the armed struggle of the Kurdistan Workers' Party , the Kurdish question was also increasingly discussed. One of the strongest supporters of the Turkish nation-state idea was Coşkun Kırca, rumored to be Dönme. This particularly revived the prejudices of Kurdish nationalists about the Jews. As a result, conspiracy theories that Hürriyet belonged to Jewish capital spread among Kurds, an idea that was also found among Islamists and Turkish nationalists. Another reason for the hostility of Kurdish intellectuals to Jews was political. Kurdish nationalists assumed that Israel would support the Kurdish national movement because of the similarity of the fates of the two peoples. This disappointed expectation was explicitly raised by Kurdish nationalists. The "descendants of Abraham" were accused of joining the tyrants. Abdülmelik Fırat , the grandson of the Kurdish insurgent Sheikh Said , prophesied the wrath of God to the Jews. But this time no one will have pity.

Among Kurdish nationalists, as well as in circles of conservative and right-wing Turks, the idea is widespread that the kebabs are responsible for the country's backwardness. Non-Muslim minorities had a disproportionate influence on the economic life and fortunes of the country. And so the Dönme were perceived as a group that was mindful of its own advantage and made common cause with the Jews.

Examples

The Kurdish intellectual Musa Anter, for example, discredited Turgut Özal and İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil in his memoirs as Jewish kebabs because they were Turkish Kurds. One can be grateful that they are not true Turks or Kurds. He calls them Dönme. Dönme are morally inferior. Dönme are either cowardly or after their own gain. In other contributions, Musa Anter made claims that Sedat Semavi was a Jewish dönme and only served the interests of Israel and that Coşkun Kırca was also Jewish. His ancestors became Muslims and Turks out of fear and self-interest. Kırca has no love for humanity and the fatherland, because Turkey is not his fatherland at all. In Anter's opinion, Oktay Ekşi was also a Jew and fell victim to the plot of the Jews who wanted to rule the world. The daily newspaper Hürriyet is also in Jewish hands, according to Anter. He explicitly differed from Erbakan's anti-Zionism . He, Anter, doesn't mean the Israeli state. He meant the characterless Jewish dönme. According to Musa Anter, the Jews are of the opinion that God has given them all the capital in the world and world domination, so they have no qualms about appropriating money and power. The Kurdish politician Abdülmelik Fırat wrote an article in the newspaper Özgür Ülke with the headline Dirty Jew ("Pis Yahudi"). He also claimed that Yaşar Kemal's wife was Jewish and had therefore prevented the famous author from visiting him in prison.

The chairman of the banned Kurdish party DEP, Yaşar Kaya, also made claims that crypto-Jews rule the Turkish press and guide public opinion, and that the Jewish kebabs dominated Turkey's trade.

Abdullah Öcalan considers Jews to be a basic evil. Adolf Hitler was right that the Jews were to blame for the First World War. Germany had been betrayed. The Jews are responsible. It was the Jews who created Hitler. Later, the Jews would have created Saddam to carry out their plans. Öcalan also suggested that Monica Lewinsky and Hillary Clinton were Jewish agents who had been smuggled into the White House by the Mossad to force Bill Clinton to apprehend him, Öcalan. The Islamic State is, according to Abdullah Ocalan an Israeli project. Abdullah Öcalan also believes that the Southeast Anatolia Project is a work of the Jews. They would buy land in the region to incorporate Greater Israel .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the various chapters in Rıfat N. Bali: Türkiye'deki Yahudi Toplumlarından Geriye Kalanlar. Istanbul 2016.
  2. ↑ Berna Pekesen: Nationalism, Turkishization and the end of the Jewish communities in Thrace. Munich 2012, p. 151
  3. ^ Fuat Dündar: Türkiye Nüfus Sayımları Azınlıklar. Istanbul 1999, p. 154
  4. ^ Rıfat N. Bali: 6-7 Eylül 1955 Olayları: Tanıklar Hatıralar. Istanbul 2010, pages 5-7
  5. ↑ Ahmet Yıldız: Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyebilene. Istanbul 2013, p. 269
  6. ^ Rıfat N. Bali: A Scapegoat for All Seasons: The Dönmes Or Crypto-Jews of Turkey. Istanbul 2008, p. 27
  7. ^ Rainer Pöschl: From neutralism to bloc politics. Background of the turn in Turkish foreign policy after Kemal Ataturk. Munich 1985, p. 129f.
  8. ↑ Berna Pekesen: Nationalism, Turkishization and the end of the Jewish communities in Thrace. Munich 2012, p. 26
  9. ^ Jacob M. Landau: Exploring Ottoman and Turkish History. London 2004, p. 17
  10. ↑ Ayşe Hür: Küreselleşen Anti-Semitizm ve Türkiye, in: Birikim Dergisi of October 18, 2005
  11. ↑ Foti Benlisoy: “Aptalların antiemperyalizmi” olarak antisemitizm. Evrensel Kültür, No. 273, September 2014, pp. 71–73.
  12. ↑ Rifat N. Bali: Komplo Teorileri. Cehaletin ve Antisemitizmin Resm-I Geçidi. İstanbul 2016, pp. 45f.
  13. ↑ Musevi diye öldürdük daily newspaper Vatan, March 18, 2004
  14. ↑ Berna Pekesen: Nationalism, Turkishization and the end of the Jewish communities in Thrace. Munich 2012, p. 57.
  15. ↑ Rifat N. Bali: Komplo Teorileri. Cehaletin ve Antisemitizmin Resm-I Geçidi. İstanbul 2016, pp. 117f.
  16. ↑ Herzl.org: Time Line
  17. ^ Rıfat N. Bali: A Scapegoat for All Seasons: The Dönmes Or Crypto-Jews of Turkey. Istanbul 2008, p. 37f.
  18. ↑ Şahin Alpay: Siyasal İslam'ın başarı şansı. Sözleşme No. 1, November 1997, pp. 20-22
  19. ↑ İhsan D. Dağı: Kimlik, Söylem, Siyaset: Doğu Batı Ayrımında Refah Partisi Geleneği. Ankara 1998, p. 32
  20. ↑ Rifat N. Bali: Komplo Teorileri. Cehaletin ve Antisemitizmin Resm-i Geçidi. İstanbul 2016, p. 29
  21. ^ Türker Alkan: The National Salvation Party in Turkey. in: Islam and Politics in Middle East. Metin Heper ve Raphael Israeli (Ed.), London 1984, pp. 79-102.
  22. ↑ Milli Gazete February 17, 1998, quoted from: Rıfat N. Bali: Musa'nın Evlatları, Cumhuriyet'in Yurttaşları. Istanbul 2005, page 361
  23. ↑ a b c d Antisemitism in the Turkish Media: Part 1 on memri.org
  24. ↑ Ümit Yazmayı: Basitleştirmek, İfşa Etmek, Gizemini Çözmek: Pierre André Taguieff ve Sekuler Zamanlarda Antisemit Komplocu Tahayyül. Marmara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilimler Dergisi. Volume 1, No. 1, 2013, pp. 153ff.
  25. ↑ Quoted from Rıfat N. Bali: Musa'nın Evlatları, Cumhuriyet'in Yurttaşları. Istanbul 2005, page 440
  26. ↑ Can Dündar, "Amerika gözlüğü", Sabah, June 12, 2000.
  27. ↑ Rifat N. Bali: Musa'nın Evlatları, Cumhuriyet'in Yurttaşları. Istanbul 2005, page 422
  28. ↑ Ahmet Yıldız: "Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyebilene". Türk Ulusal Kimliğinin Etno-Sekuler Sınırları. Istanbul 2013, p. 267
  29. ↑ Rifat N. Bali: Musa'nın Evlatları, Cumhuriyet'in Yurttaşları. Istanbul 2005, page 432.
  30. ↑ Abdülmelik Fırat: Fırat Mahzun Akar, Avesta Yayınları, Istanbul, 1996 pp. 150–153.
  31. ↑ Musa Anter: Hatıralarım, Yön Yayıncılık, Istanbul, 1992, Volume 2, p. 41. quoted from Rıfat N. Bali: Musa'nın Evlatları, Cumhuriyet'in Yurttaşları. Istanbul 2005, page 424f.
  32. ↑ Rifat N. Bali: Musa'nın Evlatları, Cumhuriyet'in Yurttaşları. Istanbul 2005, page 425ff.
  33. ↑ Musa Anter: Fırat Marmara'ya Akar, Avesta Yayıncılık, Istanbul, 1999, pp. 180–181.
  34. ↑ Özgür Ülke, July 30, 1994
  35. ↑ Nuriye Akman: "Boynumuzda suç gülleri", Sabah, March 17, 1996.
  36. ↑ Yaşar Kaya, "Dönmelik nedir?", Özgür Ülke, August 14, 1994
  37. ↑ http://www.hagalil.com
  38. ↑ Abdullah Ocalan: Maskeli Tanrılar Ve Örtük Krallar CAGI. Ankara n.d., p. 175
  39. ↑ Öcalan: Türkiye daha da kaosa sürüklenecek! ( Memento of May 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
  40. ↑ Abdullah Öcalan: Sumer Rahip Devletinden Halk Cumhuriyetine. Istanbul 2001, 242, quoted from Rıfat N. Bali: Komplo Teorileri. Cehaletin ve Antisemitizmin Resm-I Geçidi. İstanbul 2016, pp. 110–113.
  41. ^ Israel's ambivalent relations with Turkey's Kurds Vocal Europe of March 3, 2017
  42. ^ ODA TV news portal from June 12, 2009