Status and Situation of the Jews in Turkey: Historical Lines of Development and contemporary Circumstances in the Context of socio-political Transform
Status and Situation of the Jews in Turkey: Historical Lines of Development and contemporary Circumstances in the Context of socio-political Transform

Summary/Abstract: The Turkish Jewish community looks back to a long tradition in Anatolia and Western Thrace. Their particularly strong reticence is one of the main reasons why few well-researched studies of this group exist. It can, however, be expected that Turkey‟s Jewish community will become significantly smaller in the medium term. This is likely to be the result of various potential social and political threats, further assimilation into Turkish culture and systematic emigration to Israel, Europe and elsewhere. This paper aims to provide a general, but comprehensive overview of historical, political, social, ethnic-religious and legal situation of Turkey‟s Jews. It includes information about their characteristics, spread, religious- ethnographic facets, migration processes, the socio-political status and circumstances in past and present and others. Beside it, the study focuses on socio-psychological and socio-anthropological aspects (like issues of assimilation, identity, social and political attitudes and ethnic mimicry). The main sections of this paper are dealing with the situation of the Jewry during the Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Formation of Turkish Nationalism from the 19th Century to 1920, basic political conditions and situation of the Jewry in the context of the socio-political changes in Turkey from the late 1980s until today.

• Details
• Contents