Turkish Writer Exposes Persecution of Jews in Turkey

May 4, 2017 By administrator

by Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier,

Israel National News published an extremely interesting article written by Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut on the discrimination and persecution that Turkish Jews have suffered since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

This is an important exposé since the Turkish government has gone to great lengths for many decades to deceive the international community that there is great tolerance for Jews in Turkish and that Jews lived in a democratic society which protected their civil and religious rights. The aim of this Turkish propaganda campaign was two-fold: To keep Israeli leaders and American Jews happy so they would support Turkish interests in Washington and enlist the political lobbying clout of American Jews in Washington to counter congressional efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The Turkish government back in 1992 commemorated with a big splash the 500th anniversary of Jews fleeing from Spain and relocating in Turkey. Ankara co-opted many of the Jewish community leaders, including the Chief Rabbi, into propagating this false historical narrative. When I wrote an editorial back then exposing the lies of that celebration, I got a letter from the head of the commemorative events, asking why I wanted to cast a negative light on their celebration.

Interestingly, that Jewish leader did not contest any of the facts in my article on the persecution of Jews in the Ottoman Empire throughout the centuries.

Bulut’s article is significant because it describes the persecution of Jews not centuries ago but during our own times in ‘modern’ Turkey! The article begins with a news item from the Turkish Milliyet newspaper reporting that dozens of historic Jewish synagogues “run the risk of disappearing forever.”

One of the main reasons why these synagogues are disappearing is that the majority of the Jewish community of Turkey has departed from Turkey fleeing from “systematic discrimination and campaigns of forced Turkification and Islamization.” Bulut reports that in 1923, at the beginning of the Turkish Republic, there were 81,454 Jews in Turkey. That number has dwindled to “fewer than 15,000.” The last of Jewish schools was shut down by the Turkish government in 1937, according to Bulut.

Here is the list of the major episodes of Turkish persecution and discrimination against Jews and other non-Turkish minorities in recent decades, as compiled by Turkish journalist Bulut:

— The Turkish Law of Family adopted in 1934 forced Jews and other non-Turks to abandon their ethnic names and adopt Turkish sounding names.

— “Jews were deprived of their freedom of movement at least three times: in 1923, 1925 and 1927.” Bulut also mentions that “during the Holocaust, Turkey opened its doors to very few Jewish and political refugees and even took measures to prevent Jewish immigration in 1937.”

— Hate speech and anti-Semitic comments are very prevalent in Turkish society and the media. Activities in support of Israel by the Jewish community were banned by the Republic of Turkey.

— The Turkish government has assigned secret code numbers to individuals of Jewish, Armenian and Greek descent. That way the government can track them down and expose their background when necessary.

— “Laws that excluded Jews and other non-Muslims from certain professions:” The Republic of Turkey banned these minorities from holding government positions. “Thousands of non-Muslims lost their jobs,” according to Bulut.

— Prohibition of the use in public of all languages except Turkish. The “Citizen Speak Turkish” campaign in the first years of the Republic mainly targeted the Jewish community, according to Rifat Bali, the leading scholar of Turkish Jewry.

— “The Jews of Eastern Thrace were targeted by pogroms from June 21-July 4, 1934. These began with a boycott of Jewish businesses, and were followed by physical attacks on Jewish-owned buildings, which were first looted, then set on fire. Jewish men were beaten, and some Jewish women reportedly raped. Terrorized by this turn of events, more than 15,000 Jews fled the region.”

— The conscription of non-Muslims in the Turkish Army (1941-42). “On April 22, 1941, 12,000 non-Muslims (also known as “the twenty classes”), including Jewish men — even the blind and physically disabled — were conscripted. But instead of doing active service, they were sent to work in labor battalions under terrible conditions for the construction of roads and airports. Some of them lost their lives or caught diseases.”

— “On Nov. 11, 1942, the Turkish government enacted the Wealth Tax Law, which divided the taxpayers in four groups, as per their religious backgrounds: Muslims, non-Muslims, converts (‘donme’), i.e. members of a Sabbatean sect of Jewish converts to Islam, and foreign nationals. Only 4.94 percent of Turkish Muslims had to pay the Wealth Tax. The Armenians were the most heavily taxed, followed by Jews. According to the scholar Başak İnce, ‘the underlying reason was the elimination of minorities from the economy, and the replacement of the non-Muslim bourgeoisie by its Turkish counterpart.’”

— “During the 6-7 September 1955 government-instigated attacks against non-Muslim communities in Istanbul, Turkish mobs devastated the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish districts of the city, destroying and looting their places of worship, homes, businesses, cemeteries, and schools, among others.”

— “Murders of Jews: Yasef Yahya, a 39-year-old Jewish dentist was brutally murdered on August 21, 2003 in his office in the Şişli district of Istanbul, many Jewish lawyers and doctors in Istanbul removed the signs on their offices in order not to have the same fate as Yahya.”

This list of continued harassment and persecution of Jews and other minorities should be sent to the international media each time that the Turkish government misrepresents its record of mistreatment of the Jewish community in Turkey.

It is a shame that the Israeli government does not whisper a single word of criticism in the face of such persecution of fellow Jews in Turkey. On the contrary, Israeli officials cowardly buckle under pressure from Turkey to deny the Armenian Genocide and ban this crime against humanity from Israeli TV and academic conferences.

Armenia: ORO slams supporter arrest as persecution ahead of elections

March 27, 2017 By administrator

The arrest of former Nagorno Karabakh military commander Samvel Babayan is a result of political persecution against supporters of Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian (ORO) alliance, which is unacceptable during the campaign, the bloc’s number 1, former defense minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters on Monday, March 27.

Babayan who served as former minister of defence of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), the army commander of Liberation Army, was arrested with two others for smuggling Igla anti-aircraft missile system parts from Georgia, the Armenian national security service said.

“There has been pressure on our alliance during all this period,” Ohanyan said, adding that Babayan is their combat friend and supporter.

“We work through his lawyer who says there is no evidence based on the information collected so far. If there’s no evidence, I believe the arrest denotes political persecution against Samvel and our alliance.”

Also, Ohanyan ruled out the possibility of his own arrest, describing similar remarks as disinformation.

Babayan is an active supporter, but not a member of Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian bloc, which is led by Ohanyan and two former foreign ministers – Raffi Hovannisian and Vartan Oskanian.

Democrats see persecution of Muslims in the U.S. more than that of Christians in Islamic world: Poll

February 14, 2017 By administrator

By Bradford Richardson – The Washington Times – Tuesday, February 7, 2017

A majority of Democrats believe Muslims are mistreated in the United States because of their faith, but fewer will say the same thing about Christians living in the Islamic world, a new poll shows.

Fifty-six percent of Democrats say Muslims living in the U.S. are mistreated due to their faith, a Rasmussen poll released on Tuesday shows. That view is shared by 22 percent of Republicans and 39 percent of unaffiliated voters.

Fewer Democrats, 47 percent, believe Christians living in the Islamic world are persecuted over their faith. That’s compared to 76 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of unaffiliated voters.

Last year, former Secretary of State John Kerry said Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East are victims of genocide at the hands of the Islamic State terror group.

A majority of Americans, 62 percent, believe Christians are treated unfairly in the Islamic world because of their faith. Seventeen percent say they disagree, while 21 percent are undecided.

Russian businessman in Nagorno-Karabak over persecution fears

July 13, 2015 By administrator

Russian businessman and farmer German Sterligov, whose recent surprise disappearance from the country made headlines in the media, is now in Nagorno-Karabakh with his wife and children.

The billionaire had been facing persecution in Russia since 2011 for his text-book entitled “From [Ivan] the Terrible to Putin”; increasing threats over the recent period made him take a snap decision to leave his house in the Moscow area and head to Belarus. There he made up his mind to settle in Nagorno-Karabakh. Sterligov called his wife, Alena, and also warned an aide, Polina Sirota, of an imminent danger.
The businessman, who is the founder of the commodity exchange Alisa, had earlier escaped an attempted assassination and kidnapping of his children.
He unveiled details of his recent activity at a news conference held in Shushi (Nagorno-Karabakh) earlier today. Report Tert.am
Sterligov dismissed the hot news headlines in the Russian media describing him as a beneficiary and leader of a nationalist organization. He said the reports were absolutely baseless and untrue.
“And by the way, that lie hit the headlines five years after the events that are now being talked about. And the people [who spread it] are in detention and thousands of kilometers away from one another. Those are people whom I have never known,” he said, adding that the nationalist organization came to his attention only a week ago
The businessman said he knew only one person – an editor of a religious group run newspaper – from the organization, who requested money from him several years ago.
He added that the tens and thousands of people whom he hosted in his house were never required to bring any identity document.
The businessman did not rule out the possibility that some of the guests might have been followers of different faiths and beliefs, including sodomites. But he said he is sure he never gave them food or drink.
Sterlogov said that his belief is Orthodox Christianity.
He added that before adopting the religion, he funded the projects Deed and Word and Russian House, motivated purely by patriotic and nationalistic sentiments. Sterligov said he later ruled out all kinds of pseudo-religious concepts, considering the Bible the only source of belief.
Sterligov’s lawyers have told him that the case against him is based on fabricated evidence.
Going back to the roots of the story, Sterligov said that the scandals date back to 2011, a period when the Russian opposition was preparing for a big demonstration to demand President Vladimir Putin’s resignation.
As the demonstrations didn’t succeed, and Putin remained Russia’s leader, many turned away from Sterligov after the textbook was published. He said that he kept boldly resisting all kinds of threats until the moment he felt the threat against his children and house. He said that the attempts to kidnap his children and set his house on fire have developed the criminal image of his personality in the Russian media, describing him as a mastermind behind assassinations and a nationalist leader who fled from the country. “It was in Belarus that we made the decision to go to Karabakh,” he added.
At the end of the news conference, the businessman showed an air ticket, saying that he is leaving for Russia on Thursday without his family to dispel the suspicions that he avoids justice.
“I will stay there for a couple of days and then return. I like it here. I will leave to avoid creating problems for my friends who might be accused of being my accomplices. Should they decide to detain me, they will, if not, I will be back. The important thing is to leave my family in a safe place,” he added.
The businessman further said that he has his own vision of developing the second Armenian republic. He proposed particularly putting into circulation golden and silver coins in the country.