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The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers (1914). Ottoman officials hoped with German assistance to regain territory lost to the Russians. Ottoman armies experienced a series of disastrous defeats. The Russians destroyed a Turkish army in the Caucauses. The disaster was a factor in the Armenian Genocide (1915-16). The British and French failed at Galipoli (1915), but British offensives in Palestine and Mesopotami ended Ottoman rule of Arab lands. The War destoyed the Empire. It was replaced by a new Turkish Republic created by the Young Turks. After losing the Christian Balkans and the Arab lands and with the destructin of the Aremenians, the new Turkey was more ethnically homogenious, although there were still Greek and Kurdish minorities as well as the Jewish community. The Turkish people elected Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as the first president. The Republic abolished the Caliphate and adopted a secular constitution. The Young Turks rejected a treaty imposed by the Allies and a new treaty was negotiated--the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). A war with Greece resulted in the expulsion of the Greeks. The Republic extended minority rights to the three principal non-Muslim religious minorities. They were given the right to operate their own schools, social institutions, and administers funds. The Republic prepared to adopt anew Civil Code based on Swiss law (1926). The Jewish Community as a result renounced its minority status protections. After the NAZIs seized power in Germany (1933), Ataturk offered refuge to German Jewish professors. These Jewish scholars layed a major role in building a modern university system in Turkey. [Shaw] Turkey remained neutral through most of World war II (1939-45). Both the Allies and NAZIs attempted to bring Turkey into the war. The Germans courted the Turkish and other Islamic minorities after invading the Soviet Union (1941). NAZI diplomats believed that they had convinced the Turks to enter the War. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad ended any chance of that. Turkey resisted the NAZI Holocaust. allowed Jews fleeing the NAZIs to pass through their territory, but did not allow any large number of Jewish refugees to stay in the country. The Turks refused NAZI requests to deport their Jews.
There is a long history of Jewish presence in what is modern Turkey. Some of that history is more lengend than history. Important Biblical figures, beginning with Abraham, appear to have come from Anatolia. This of course was the location of Mount Arafat where the Noah's Ark found land. A jewish presence was noted during the Persian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods. There are traces of Jewish presence in Anatolia and the Agean area (4th century BC). Few details are available, but the presence of Jews predates the Roman era. This may have been primarily small merchant communities with roots in Palestine. They could also the descendents of Jews exiled by the Assyrians and Babylonians. What ever their origin, archeologists have found remanants of what they believe were Jewish communities in the Agean basin. The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus Flavius reports that Aristotle "met Jewish people with whom he had an exchange of views during his trip across Asia Minor." We are not sure what his source was for this. One of the most important Archeologial finds is at Sardis near modern Izmir (about 220 BC). Indication of another Jewish community has been noted at near Bursa in southeastern Turkey as well as other sites along the Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. Josephes also reports Jewish communities in Asian Minor during Roman times. These are confrmed by New Testament references.
Ashkenazi Jews migrating to the Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire adding to the original Jewish population. A large number of Sephardic Jews exiled by Spain and Portugal (1492 and 96) were given refuge by Ottoman Sultan.
Jewish communities were established throughout the Roman Empire after the failure of the Jewish revolt and the Roman supression of the Jews. Several of the communities were established in Anatolia (often referred to as Asia Minor). Other Jewish communities were esablished in the Balkans and Levant which for a ime were contrilled by Byzantium. Generally these communities did not experience the severe repression that the Roman Catholic Church directed at the Jews. Gradually Byzantium was overwealmed, first by the Arabs and than by the Ottoman Turks. As the Ottomans occupied Anatolia and other areas formerly controlled by Byzantium, Jews came under their control. The great Byzantine capital, Constantinople, finally fell (1453). More Jews entered the Empire when the Ottomans offered refuge to the Jews expelled by Spain and Portugal--the Sephardic Jews. As the Ottoman Empire expanded, Turks became a minority in an Empire populated by Balkan Christians and Muslim Arabs. The Ottomans also held people from these areas with some suspicion, fearing the development of nationalist movements. The Jews on the other hand were a small minority. Thus they were often favored by sultans who often placed great trust in them. Ottoman rule in many cases help protect Jews from sometimes antagonistic local populations. Thus the situation of Jews in the Ottoman east was very different than in the Christian west.
The Ottomn Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers (1914). Ottoman officials hoped with German assistance to regain territory lost to the Russians. Ottoman armies experienced a series of disastrous defeats. The Russians destroyed a Turkish army in the Caucauses. The disaster was a factor in the Armenian Genocide (1915-16). The British and French failed at Galipoli (1915), but British offensives in Palestine and Mesopotamia ended Ottoman rule of Arab lands. The War destoyed the Empire.
The Ottomn Empire was replaced by a new Turkish Republic created by the Young Turks. After losing the Christian Balkans and the Arab lands and with the destruction of the Aremenians, the new Turkey was more ethnically homogenious, although there were still Greek and Kurdish minorities as well as the Jewish community. The Turkish people elected Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as the first president. The Republic abolished the Caliphate and adopted a secular constitution. The Young Turks rejected a treaty imposed by the Allies and a new treaty was negotiated--the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). A war with Greece resulted in the expulsion of the Greeks.
The Republic extended minority rights to the three principal non-Muslim religious minorities. They were given the right to operate their own schools, social institutions, and administers funds. The Republic prepared to adopt anew Civil Code based on Swiss law (1926). The Jewish Community as a result renounced its minority status protections.
After the NAZIs seized power in Germany (1933), Ataturk offered refuge to German Jewish professors. These Jewish scholars layed a major role in building a modern university system in Turkey. [Shaw] Turkey remained neutral through most of World war II (1939-45). Both the Allies and NAZIs attempted to bring Turkey into the war. The Germans courted the Turkish and other Islamic minorities after invading the Soviet Union (1941). NAZI diplomts believed that they had convinced the Turks to enter the War. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad ended any chance of that. Turkey resisted the >NAZI Holocaust. allowed Jews fleeing the NAZIs to pass through their territory, but did not allow any large number of Jewish refugees to stay in the country. The Turks refused NAZI requests to deport their Jews. Turkish diplomats (Ambassadors Behic Erkin and Numan Menemencioglu; Consul Generals Fikret Sefik Ozdoganci, Bedii Arbel, Selahattin Ulkumen; Consuls Namik Kemal Yolga and Necdet Kent) worked to save Turkish Jews in the countries occupied by the NAZIs--primarily Greece and France. [Shaw] Salahattin Ulkumen, Turkish Consul General on Rhodes (1943-44) was recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Gentile.
The British after World War II attempted to prevent Jewish refugees from reaching Palestine. The Turkish Government placed no restrictions on Turkish Jews desiring to emigrate to Palestine or later Israel. There are today about 100,000 Jews of Turkish ancestry in Israel. Most of the Turkish Jews emmigrated to Israel did so in the 1940s. Unlike Jews coming from Arab countries, Turking Jews were not fleeing oppression and persecution.
The Jewish Community now numbers about 26.000 people. Most live in Istanbul. A smaller community exists at Izmir. A few Jews live in Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Canakkale, Iskenderun, and Kirklareli. Most Turkish Jews are Sephardis (over 95 percent). Most of the rest are Ashkenazis. There area few Karaites, who do not accept the Chief Rabbi's authority. Turkish Jews are legally represented by the Hahambasi, the Chief Rabbi. He is assisted by a religious Council.
Shaw, Stanford J. Turkey and the Holocaust: Turkey's Role in Rescuing Turkish and European Jewry from Nazi Persecution, 1933-1945.
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