Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks: Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide by Marc D. Baer

Author:Marc D. Baer [Baer, Marc D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780253045416
Google: C_QYwAEACAAJ
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2020-11-15T00:26:32.634551+00:00

At the time of the conquest of Bursa (1326) the Jewish community—oppressed under Byzantine rule—welcomed the Ottomans as saviours. . . . Early in the 14th century, when the Ottomans had established their capital at Edirne, many Jews from Europe, mostly Ashkenazim, migrated there. When Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Byzantium in 1453 he encountered an oppressed Romaniote Jewish community which welcomed him with enthusiasm. He had called upon the Anatolian Jewish communities and invited them ‘to ascend the site of the Imperial Throne, to dwell in the best of the land, each beneath his vine and fig tree, with silver and gold, with wealth and cattle.’ In 1464/1469, Rabbi Isak Sarfati [Isaac Tzarfati] from Edirne sent a letter to the Jewish communities in Europe, inviting ‘his coreligionists to leave the torment they were enduring in Christendom and seek safety and prosperity in Turkey.’ In 1492 Sultan Bayezid II, learning about the expulsion of the Sepharads—the Jews from Spain—ordered his governors ‘not to refuse the Jews entry or cause them difficulties, but to receive them cordially.’ . . . Russian Jews fleeing the pogroms in 1881, 1891, 1897, 1903 and the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, found refuge in Turkey. In 1933 Atatürk invited famous scientists under threat in Nazi Germany and Austria to find shelter and settle in Turkey and continue their academic careers at Turkish universities. . . . Turkish diplomats serving in countries under Nazi occupation endeavoured greatly and succeeded in saving the lives of Jews from Nazi atrocities and extermination camps. In 1990 Selahattin Ülkümen, consul general at Rhodes (1943–1944) was honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. During World War II Turkey served as a safe passage for many Jews fleeing the horrors of Nazism.62

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.