Turkey
Following the December 1995 elections, in which the Islamist Refah Partisi
(RP, Welfare Party) emerged as the largest parliamentary group, an unstable
coalition government was established in February between two centre-right
groups, namely the Anatavan Partisi (ANAP, Motherland Party), led by Mesut
Yilmaz, and the Dogru Yol Partisi (DYP, True Path Party), led by Tansu Çiller.
The collapse of the coalition in June led to the formation of a new coalition
between the DYP and RP. Necmettin Erbakan, the RP's leader, was appointed
the first Islamist prime minister in the republic's history, with Çiller
as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. ANAP became the main opposition
party in the 550-member national assembly.
Within months of taking office, Erbakan provoked western criticism by visiting
Iran where he signed a major deal to buy natural gas-Nigeria, Iraq and Libya.
Despite the RP's commitment to carrying out Islamic reforms in the political,
social and economic spheres, Erbakan agreed to maintain the pro-western
and pro-European foreign policies of the previous government, and to preserve
the secularist reforms instituted by Kemal Atatürk in the 1920s. Turkey
maintained close ties with the USA, implemented the European customs union
signed in December 1995 and renewed efforts to apply for full membership
of the European Union.
In February, the RP-led government also signed a defence agreement with
Israel providing for joint military training and exercises. Following President
Suleyman Demirel's visit to Israel in March, Israeli president Ezer Weizmann
visited Turkey in June and a group of Turkish parliamentarians, including
RP representatives, travelled to Israel in November.
Erbakan's government maintained economic policies similar to those of his
predecessors, including the privatization programme. Imports increased by
over 50 per cent during the year, largely as a result of the European customs
union. Nonetheless, high inflation-about 80 per cent-persisted and unemployment
remained at around 15 per cent.
The issue of human rights remained high on the public agenda in 1996. The
government was unable to sustain improvements made in the previous year.
According to reports published in the western media, violations were particularly
acute in the south-east of the country, where security forces continued
to engage in armed conflict with the separatist organization Partia Karkeren
Kurdistan (PKK, Kurdistan Workers' Party).
The ancestors of the present-day Jewish community came to the Ottoman
Empire after their expulsion from Spain in 1492, although there were Jewish
settlements in various parts of Anatolia under Roman and Byzantine rule.
Jews enjoyed relatively comfortable conditions under the protection of the
Ottoman administration. Police intervened to quell outbreaks of violence
against Jews, which were provoked in Smyrna (Izmir) in 1872 and Constantinople
(Istanbul) in 1874, when Greeks and Armenians hid Christian children at
Easter and accused Jews of stealing them.
In 1872 a synagogue on the island of Marmara was destroyed. During this
period Jews also became victims of blood libel accusations. Nevertheless,
Ottoman sultans always issued fermans (decrees) condemning such accusations.
In one reported case in Constantinople in 1870, Jewish merchants were forced
to open their sacks to prove that they did not contain Christian children.
After the establishment of the Turkish republic in 1923, the constitution
provided for equal rights for Jews and other religious minorities. There
has been little antisemitism since then, except during the Second World
War, when neutral Turkey imposed some discriminatory measures, such as welfare
tax, against the non-Muslim minorities, including the Jewish community.
During the Second World War, Turkey maintained its neutrality and served
as a corridor of safe passage for many Jews fleeing Nazism. Since the 1960s
antisemitic articles have appeared in the Turkish press, particularly in
Islamist publications.
In September 1986, twenty-two worshippers were killed in an attack by the
Palestinian Abu Nidal terrorist group on the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul.
In March 1992, Neve Shalom was the target of another violent attack when
terrorists linked to the Turkish Hizbullah group threw two grenades at the
synagogue, injuring a Jewish passer-by.
The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne recognizes the status of three religious
minorities Armenians, Jews and Greeks. Official attitudes towards the Greek
Orthodox and Armenian churches, however, are affected by Turkey's political
relations with Greece and Armenia.
The Alawi Muslim minority is estimated to number at least 12 million. Alawis
allege informal discrimination concerning the teaching of Islam and complain
of a Sunni Muslim bias in the ministry of religious affairs, which classifies
the Alawis as a cultural, rather than a religious, group.
There are approximately 12 million Turks of Kurdish origin, most of whom
are well-integrated into political and economic life. The government's campaign
against the PKK (see GENERAL BACKGROUND) has, however, affected the treatment
of the Kurdish commmunity, which is not officially recognized as a minority.
As in previous years, the Islamist organization Bilim Arastirma Vakfi
(Foundation for Scientific Research), led by Adnan Oktar (better known as
Adnan Hodja), continued to slander Jews. It draws support from educated
and wealthy young men and women but, unlike RP, most of its followers do
not adopt Muslim dress or attend mosques regularly. Oktar is notorious for
his virulent attacks on Israel, Jews and Freemasons.
In 1996 the foundation distributed two books entitled the "Holocaust
Lie The Inside Story of the Secret History of the Zionist-Nazi Co-operation
and the Lie About Jewish Genocide" (originally published in 1995) and
the "New Masonic Order" (see HOLOCAUST DENIAL). It also publishes
a bulletin, Siyasi Cizgi (Political Line), first launched in 1994,
which was mailed to thousands of prominent Turks.
Since its establishment in the early 1980s, RP has maintained an anti-lsraeli
and anti-Zionist stance, which is occasionally combined with antisemitism.
While in opposition Necmettin Erbakan and other leading RP members frequently
attacked both Israel and the Jews. In May, during negotiations to form a
coalition government with the ANAP, Erbakan remarked, "Anyone who does
not support Refah's efforts serves the Jews". Since becoming prime
minister in mid-1996 (see GENERAL BACKGROUND), Erbakan has adopted a more
pragmatic attitude towards Israel, but occasionally expressed antisemitism,
especially in Islamist forums. During his address in December, for example,
to the pro-Islamist Economic and Social Research Centre, Erbakan referred
to a book entitled "The Secret World State", which was printed
and distributed by an Islamist publication, and claimed that "international
Zionism" controlled the world economy and politics and was inspired
by the "oldest mystical Jewish sources, the cabbala ".
Antisemitic slogans were chanted at a demonstration organized by RP supporters
in October in Ankara, to protest the opening of the Hasmonean tunnel in
Jerusalem. RP's deputy leader, Riza Ulucak, denied that the party was responsible.
Some RP members opposed the inclusion in the Turkish delegation that visited
Israel in November of Cefi Kamhi, the only Jewish parliamentarian. An RP
spokesperson later apologized for antisemitic remarks made by RP activists
in this context. During the debate, the press repeatedly used the prefix
"Jewish" in front of Kamhi's name.
In 1996 the Islamist media continued to spread anti-Zionist and antisemitic
propaganda. The most notorious newspapers were the RP's semi-official organ
Milli Gazete (National Gazette, circulation 150,000) and militant
Islamist papers such as Akit (Covenant), Yeni Safak (New Dawn), Selam
and Siyah Bayrak (Black Banner).
As in previous years, Milli Gazete published countless antisemitic
articles during 1996. In May, for instance, an article signed by an academic,
Huseyin Varol, analysed the negative characteristics of Jews according to
the Qur'an. In December, an article by Ihsan Suleyman Sirma claimed that
Jews were expelled from many countries "like rabid dogs and that whenever
Jews are treated in a human way, they always respond like animals".
In January, Milli Gazete praised the publication and free distribution
of copies of Oktar's book that denied the Holocaust (see HOLOCAUST DENIAL).
Akit and Milli Gazete both suggested that the book proved
the conspiracy between Hitler and the Zionists to encourage the emigration
of the Jews and the creation of a Jewish state, and that those who died
in concentration camps were victims of typhus. Erbakan recorded, prior to
becoming prime minister, that he had recommended this book to fellow party
members as a reference work.
In August Milli Gazete published a list of thirty-nine books and
pamphlets under the title "Anti-Zionist Books Published in Our Country".
The list included several antisemitic publications dating back to the 1960s
and 1970s (such as those by Cevat Rifat Atuhan) that are not available in
main bookshops but are available in smaller shops that stock Islamist literature.
In September, Siyah Bayrak expressed antisemitism in response to
the controversial opening of the Hasmonean tunnel in Jerusalem. It wrote:
"The latest brutality committed by Israel proves that there can be
no innocent Jew, and this further increases the possibility of attacks against
the lives and property of Jews living in the region, especially in Turkey"
(see also MAINSTREAM POLITICS).
The daily Yeni Safak wrote in October, "no intelligent person
can regard the Torah as a book of religion. It is a book of rebellion against
God, of intrigue and of war."
Akit published several antisemitic editorials, and one front-page
story accused Jews of damaging other religions and cultures. One edition
alleged that Turkish Jews were agents of world Jewry and Zionism, and accused
them of taking over critical economic fields such as transportation of natural
gas and telecommunications. Akit also printed calls for Islamic jihad
; one article in February asserted, "All kinds of activities allowed
under Islamic laws should be carried out against the Jews anywhere in the
world".
Similar calls for jihad against Jews appeared throughout the year
in the weekly Selam . It gave prominence in April to a report about
RP representative Sevki Yilmaz, who warned that Hamas and Hizbullah were
engaged in a jihad and stated: "If we don't stand against the bombs
that the Jews use against the Muslims in Jerusalem, one day those bombs
will start falling on Turkey."
In October, the cover of Akinci Yolu (The Raider's Path), a magazine
that supports the radical, underground Islami Büyük Dogu Akincilar
Cephesi (IBDAC, Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front, see EFFECTS OF ANTI-
ZIONISM), featured a cover story entitled "The Best Jew is a Dead Jew".
The magazine attacked the RP for becoming too moderate towards secularism,
claiming that party leaders had become "collaborators of the Jews".
Numerous antisemitic books were also published in Turkey during the year.
The publication in December 1995 of "Holocaust Lie The Inside Story
of the Secret History of the Zionist-Nazi Co-operation and the Lie About
Jewish Genocide" sparked much public debate throughout 1996.
In March 1996 a leading Turkish painter and intellectual, Bedri Baykam,
published a strongly worded critique in the Ankara daily newspaper Siyah-Beyaz
(Black and White). A legal suit for slander was subsequently brought
against Baykam by Nuri Özbudak, who claimed to have written the book
under the pseudonym of Harun Yahya. During the trial in September, Baykam
exposed the real author of the book as Adnan Oktar, leader of Bilim Arastirma
Vakfi (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS).
Baykam also stated in court that genocide against the Jews was an indisputable
historical fact. He condemned the book and proclaimed that all Turks who
upheld human rights and democracy should react strongly against it too.
By the end of the year the trial had not yet been concluded, but it appeared
that Özbudak would drop the case.
In September a Turkish translation of Les myths fondateurs de la politique
israélienne (Founding Myths of Israeli Politics), by French Holocaust-denier
Roger Garaudy, was published in Istanbul (see France). The book was publicized
on a pro-Islamic television channel.
Several militant Islamist organizations, some of which engaged in political
violence against secularist Turks and the police, were active in 1996. The
most prominent of the organizations was the IBDAC. Other underground groups
include the local branch of Hizbullah, the Islamic Jihad and the Islami
Kurtulus Orgutu (Islamic Salvation Organization).
The militant Islamists in Turkey fre-quently used their criticism of Zionism
and of Israel to express antisemitic sentiment. These groups organized demonstrations
following prayers on Fridays in Istanbul and Ankara, at which they burned
the Israeli and US flags and distributed anti-Israeli and antisemitic material.
During her visit to New York in September, Deputy Prime Minister Çiller
met with leading Jewish representatives and assured them that the Turkish
government's positive attitude towards Jews would not change as a result
of the Islamists' presence in the coalition.
A leading RP member and minister of state for economic affairs, Fehim Adak,
visited New York in December and met with delegations from American Jewish
organizations, including the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Adak stressed
that the RP favoured good relations with Israel and Jews.
Jewish communal leaders in Istanbul met several times with the highest Turkish
authorities, including President Suleyman Demirel and Istanbul's mayor,
Talip Erdogan, a leading RP member, in order to draw attention to the antisemitic
campaign by Islamists. Although the authorities repeatedly affirmed their
sympathy, no practical result has yet come of these initiatives.
The Jewish weekly publication Salom repeatedly appealed for action
against antisemitism, but mainstream political parties preferred to remain
silent. A number of prominent columnists in pro-secularist newspapers did
criticize antisemitic remarks in the Islamist media. They include Sahin
Alpay and Guneri Civaoglu in Milliyet , Hadi Uluerigin and Ertugrul
Ozkok in Hurriyet and Gungor Mengi and Sedat Sertoglu in Sabah.
A pro-Islamist author, Ali Bulaç, published an article in April in
the daily Yeni Safak in which he questioned the wisdom of conducting
an antisemitic campaign in Turkey, stressing that this would damage the
image of Islam. Yeni Safak usually takes a radical line and often
publishes anti-Israeli articles.
1996 marked a noticeable surge in antisemitism in Turkey, with Islamist
politicians and writers stepping up their campaign against the Jews in general
and in some cases targeting Turkish Jews.
This coincided with the rise of pro-Islamic trends in the country, and the
coming to power of Necmettin Erbakan and his Refah Partisi.
The Jewish community in Turkey faced little discrimination in the professions
and fields in which they worked. Yet the mounting campaign by the Islamist
media and remarks made by some RP politicians led to considerable unease
in the Jewish community.
© JPR 1997