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turkish turkey world istanbul turks european military islam israeli europe western islamic religious political 2009 ergenekon empire fatih zaman gaza fashion newspaper document ambassador activists books faith semitism diverse allegations euro diplomatic assist issued poyraz scene author counter dervish detained html kucuk suleiman writers arrest assad closer engaging ergun formal
The Turkish - Jewish relations go back to the first millennium. Khazaria, a Turkish state which was established in the second half of the 6th century near Caspian Sea converted to Judaism in 8th century. [1]
The Turkish kings of Khazaria viewed themselves as the protectors of international Jewry, and corresponded with foreign Jewish leaders. The letters exchanged between the Khazar ruler Joseph and the Spanish rabbi Hasdai ibn Shaprut has been preserved. In the letter, the Khazarian king acknowledges his Turkish background and Jewish faith. [2]
The Turkish kings, were again in the scene as the protectors of Jewry in 16th century when Sultan Suleiman counter-measured the intention of Pope Paul IV to succumb the Jews of Ancona into the hands of the Inquisition. The Muslim sultan commissioned the Ottoman Turkish Navy to save the Jews in Spain. Furthermore, taking up the opinion of his personal doctor and adviser, Moses Hamon, an Ottoman jew, reconfirmed the orders of his grandfather Mehmed II and issued a firman formally denouncing blood libels against the Jews [3]. The Turkish assisted migration of Jews from Western Europe to Ottoman Empire was greeted kindly by the authorities.
By the end of 2009 Turkey was a home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Islam world [4]. There are 23 active synagogues in Turkey, including 16 in Istanbul alone.
While Turkey has traditionally been a reliable diplomatic ally and an even closer military partner of Israel, a rash of anti-Semitic statements from the nationalist-left has arisen in the last decade. However this should not be confused with the street demonstrations against Israel after the Israeli military operation on Mavi Marmara Aid Flotilla in which Israeli commandos killed 9 unarmed Turkish peace activists in international waters. (5 of the 9 activists were shot in the head) [5]. The recent rise of anti-Semitism is in fact related to the activities and ideology of neo-nationalist left and right wing groups, some of which are associated with the Ergenekon case.
The conspiratorial anti-Semitism in Turkey started with Harun Yahya’s book “Yahudilik ve Masonluk” (Judaism and Freemasonry, published 1986 in Istanbul) in which the author, leader of a religious cult that promoted inter-cult marriages, claimed that some of the largest holdings and media groups in Turkey belonged to Jews and listed the names of Turkish Jews as well as prominent Freemasons in the Turkish government. However the book did not raise any visible negative tendency towards Turkish Jews as Turkish Jews did not need to hide their identities; instead the reputations of some Turkish politicians listed as Freemasons took the hit.
The second wave of conspiratorial anti-Semitism started in 2000s and gained a new level of respectability with the publication of Soner Yalçin’s books titled Efendi (2004) and Efendi II (2006) by Dogan Book Publishers, a subsidiary of Turkey’s largest media group Dogan Holding.
“Efendi” had a record number of sales for non-fiction in Turkey; The book was re-printed 78 times with almost 150,000 copies sold [6]. According to the book all of the important positions in Turkey have been occupied by the Jews since the founding of the Republic – including even the founders themselves, effectively making Turkey a “Jewish Republic.” The sequel, which was less well received, went further, claiming that even the country’s dervish orders and religious institutions had been completely infiltrated by the Jews.
Furthermore, a series of books named “Musanin cocuklari” (literal translation; Children of Moses) by Ergun Poyraz, suggest that PM Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and the Speaker of the Parliament Bulent Arinc all had Jewish roots and that Israel had financed the establishment of the ruling party AKP. A CD found at the nationalist-left Workers Party (IP) headquarters revealed that Poyraz received payments from JITEM, the military wing of Ergenekon [7]. Poyraz's books sold over 150,000 copies just in 2007, phenomenal successes by any measure.
Another source for anti-Semitic propaganda in Turkey was Marxist economics professor Yalcin Kucuk. Kucuk went on many TV shows to further spread his theories about who is a jew and how is not and almost single-handedly brought anti-Semitism out of the ultranationalist circles and worked in making it an acceptable part of the broader parlance of the so-called “White Turks”. Kucuk used simplistic logical observations in persuading his followers; on a TV show he suggested the coach of the Turkish National Soccer Team, Fatih Terim was a Jews as Terim was the name of a village in Israel [8].
Prominent kemalist writers in Turkish mainstream media regularly make references to Ergun Poyraz’s books in criticizing the government. Once regarded as the most important Kemalist-secular writer Emin Colasan, promoted Ergun Poyraz books in his daily column in Turkish Daily Hurriyet [9]. Yilmaz Ozdil, a sharp-tongued Kemalist columnist blamed AKP government for selling the Turkish lands to Israel [10].
The new wave of anti-Semitism created by Yalcin, Poyraz, Kucuk and alike made it almost impossible to find someone in Turkey give a favourable opinion on Israel. The Turkish Left (CHP) and Ultra Nationalists (MHP) has futher fuelled the anti-Semitic sentiments in the public by using the theories used by Poyraz, Yalcin, Colasan and Kucuk as a way of anti-government propaganda; AKP was a Zionist foundation, Erdogan, Gul and Arinc were Jewish, the government was selling lands of Turks to Jews. Etc. For public figures and politicians in particular, making an objective statement about Israel or Zionism would be tantamount to political suicide, evoking accusations that the person had “sold his soul to the Zionists.”.
Most of these allegations seem illogical; imagine a government that sells the country to Israelis at the same time and working secretly for an Islamic revolution while acting as an American gendarme in the Middle East.
Today’s Zaman columnist Ihsan Dagi, suggests that anti-Semitism is being used to scare a diverse array of people, including leftists, rightists, Islamists and socialists, and bring them together under a militarist ideology. [11]
When we bring together the number of books, articles published in fuelling ant-Semitism, the sponsors of these books, the political ideologies of their writers, we can conclude that the new anti-Semitism is the ugly child of Ergenekon.
European Commission, US State Department voiced their protest through New York Times, Guardian, Daily Mail, BBC and other media outlets shortly after journalists were detained for their involvement with the Ergenekon gang. These groups accused Turkish government, Police and Ministry of Justice of suppressing freedom of press and engaging in censorship. US Ambassador in Turkey went further on to criticize the Turkish government. However Turkish governments reply was short but not very sweet; Prime Minister Erdogan in his response to allegations, called the US Ambassador “a rookie, who doesn’t realize what country he lives in, what the Ergenekon case is about.” . Furthermore, Erdogan faced questions in similar fashion from members of European Parliament. The Prime Minister went on to say “none of the journalists are arrested for their journalistic activities; they still write and report for their newspapers and magazines, their books are still available at bookstores, they can still talk to the media and voice their opinions, they were arrested for their involvement with Ergenekon gang. What kind of journalist gets involved with a terrorist organization and hides behind freedom of speech?”[12]
Politicians and Journalists in the West are in fact defending the creators of anti-Semitism in Turkey by criticising the arrest of Soner Yalcin, Ergun Poyraz and Yalcin Kucuk.
Article by Beyti Kahraman
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