Elza Niyego riots

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Mourners carry Niyego's coffin

The Elza Niyego riots were anti-Jewish riots in Istanbul (Turkey) in August 1927.

occasion

Elza Niyego (also: Alizah or Elsa Niego) was a 22-year-old Jewish woman from Istanbul who worked for the then largest insurance company in the country, the Türkiye Millî Sigorta. Niyego was the victim of stalking a married Muslim man from a prominent family. The refusal of his advances led the man to further harassment, threats and an attempted kidnapping. The family reported the man. He was arrested and spent several months in prison. After his release, the man found out about Niyego's engagement. Out of anger about the engagement, he ambushed her on August 17, 1927 at the end of work in front of her work place and stabbed her. Niyego's sister Rejin was injured. According to Rıfat N. Bali, Jews present tried to lynch the killer. The arriving police prevented this and arrested the killer. Elza Niyego's body was left on Bankalar Caddesi for three hours until the forensic team arrived. The police refused to allow the mother to cover her body. This fact in particular enraged the Jewish community.

Several hundred people gathered at the family home to assist the family. The anger of those present was also directed against reporters who wanted to cover the case. They were insulted as barbarians, savages and primitive people. Reporters from the Son Saat and Akşam newspapers reported that those present were upset about the lack of law and justice in the country.

Funeral and law enforcement

The funeral procession

Thousands of people attended the funeral on August 18. The mood was heated. Since the perpetrator had already been released from prison, it was believed that he would get away with a light sentence. The transfer to psychiatry fueled this suspicion. The coffin was carried on the shoulders through the streets and also through the street where the deed took place. Participants chanted: “We want justice” and shouted “Cowardly Turks!” Traffic was stopped and scuffles broke out. An official vehicle in which the Secretary of the Cumhuriyet ruling Halk Fırkası , Saffet Bey, was, did not stop but drove slowly through the train. Participants recognized him and confronted him with a demand for justice. Saffet Bey then drove to the police station to find out more. The police opened initial investigations. This was followed by inflammatory coverage of the funeral procession. The press portrayed the funeral procession as an anti-government demonstration in which Turkish citizens were insulted. The senior prosecutor Nazif Bey announced:

“Yesterday, following a public law murder case, some Jews engaged in behavior that is unlawful and deliberately endangering public safety. You dared to say "We want justice!" screaming, holding up traffic, and defying the police. These insolent individuals will soon find out for themselves that the laws exist in the Republic of Turkey and rule everything. "

- Rıfat Bali Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni 1923-1945: Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudiler. Istanbul 1999, p. 114.

On August 21, as part of the prosecutor's investigation, David Boton and eight Jews who were alleged to have been involved in the incident were arrested. They were charged with insulting Turkishness in accordance with Article 159 and sedition in accordance with Article 312 of the tStGB. After interrogation, they were released and the hearing was scheduled for August 27th. On August 22nd, conscript Avram Korrida was arrested for allegedly assaulting a person during the cortege. As part of the investigation, two Jewish organizations were also searched, the local branch of B'nai B'rith and the Jewish cultural association “Amicale”. They were charged with paying for the funeral.

Riots

The Turkish press reported the funeral procession in an inflammatory tone. The Milliyet editorial wrote:

“They have dropped their fake masks of satisfaction that they have been wearing for hundreds of years. For the first time in 400 years, a Jewish community has moved from defense to attack. And do you know where in the world? Unfortunately in Turkey, the country to which they owe their lives. "

- Rıfat Bali Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni 1923-1945: Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudiler. Istanbul 1999, p. 116.

Also Yunus Nadi hit in the Cumhuriyet in a threatening tone. Anti-Jewish riots broke out during the press campaign. In Uzunköprü houses were pelted with stones by Jews. In Izmir , members of the local Türk Ocağı threatened the local rabbi Moşe Melamed and demanded the removal of allegedly existing Hebrew posters. There was a large anti-Jewish demonstration in the city. The participants called for the closure of Jewish schools, the boycott of Jewish shops and the expulsion of Jews who had failed to do their military service. In the Jewish Karataş hospital, students destroyed a marble slab with Hebrew script. Something similar happened with a trilingual ad in the center of the community. Yunus Nadi called for calm after the riots and stated that anti-Semitism was currently in vogue in the world and may also have a few supporters in Turkey. Leading representatives of the Jewish community in Istanbul received an audience with Kâzım Pasha and assured him of their loyalty to Turkey. Kâzım Pascha brought up the Turkishization of the Jews and Yunus Nadi, who had arranged the audience, asked for a donation of 50,000 lira for a statue for Mustafa Kemal in Ankara. The Jewish community complied with this requirement.

Completion of legal proceedings

The former teacher İsmet İnönüs at Kara Harp Okulu , Jak Pardo, wrote a letter to his former student and stood up for the Jews on trial. The letter was opened by the Prime Minister's office and forwarded to the prosecutor. He had Pardo arrested on September 19. He was released the next day after the Prime Minister intervened. At the trial on September 21st, all but Avram Korrida were acquitted. The latter was sentenced to 35 days in prison for allegedly injuring someone with a knife during the funeral procession. Since he had already served 33 days, Korrida was imprisoned for two more days. The Jews present in the court chanted “Long live the Turkish justice!” And “Long live the Republic of Turkey!” The public prosecutor appeals. The proceedings were resumed and ended again in 1930 with an acquittal. The killer was permanently placed in a psychiatric ward and years later killed by a fellow patient.

rating

Berna Pekesen counts the riots as one of the most important anti-Jewish phenomena in Turkey in the 1920s. Avner Levi rates it as the result of a five-year anti-Jewish campaign. Efrat Aviv attributes the events to the fact that the agitation of the press was met with a willing listen, especially among the educated young class who have already absorbed anti-Semitic ideas.

Individual evidence

  1. Avner Levi: Türkiye Cumhuriyetinde Yahudiler. Istanbul 1996, pp. 75f.
  2. ^ Rıfat N. Bali: Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni 1923-1945: Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudiler. Istanbul 1999, page 110.
  3. ^ Rıfat N. Bali: Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni 1923-1945: Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudiler. Istanbul 1999, page 111.
  4. Rıfat Bali Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni 1923-1945: Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudiler. Istanbul 1999, page 111.
  5. Avner Levi: Türkiye Cumhuriyetinde Yahudiler. Istanbul 2017, page 76.
  6. Berna Pekesen: Nationalism, Turkishization and the end of the Jewish communities in Thrace 1918-1942. Munich 2012, page 191.
  7. Avner Levi: Turkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde Yahudiler. Istanbul 1996, p. 85
  8. Efrat Aviv Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in Turkey: From Ottoman Rule to AKP, London, New York 2017, p. 36

literature

  • Rıfat Bali Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni 1923–1945: Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudiler. Istanbul 1999