Online antisemitism on the first wedding in decades at Edirne Synagogue

1934 is one of the decisive dates in the history of the Turkish Jews. The events called ‘1934 Thrace Events’ in the cold pages of the history books is named ‘Fortuna’ (meaning ‘storm’ in Judeo-Spanish) by the Jews. It is called that way because it happened so sudden, so fast that nobody could take any precautions, nobody could prepare itself. It passed and destroyed everything on its way. During two weeks of pogrom in the region, most of the Jews fled from Thrace to Istanbul or Palestine leaving everything. Only some stories and anecdotes are left behind; trains ready for departure to Istanbul waiting for the Jews in the stations, young girls wrapped under the carpets to protect them from rape, families drawn apart and exodus…

Those expelled from their homes, separated from their roots choose to stay silent. Silence, kayadez was a defense mechanism learnt from the elderly. They thought that this phase in the Turkish history will pass. They tried to forget that it even happened. They tried to protect their children by hiding the truth. They did not explain the real reason of their migration to Istanbul. That way they thought that their children will not get hurt, will not revolt, and continue to live in Turkey. On the eve of the Second World War, with fascism rising in Europe, they had no better place to escape any way.

Their silence was perceived as a support to the ‘tolerance’ myth of the state. In reality they were not accepted as equal citizens as their faith was different. Publicists Nihal Atsız, Cevat Rıfat Atılhan continued their racist and anti-Semitic discourse to intoxicate the public against the Jews. Turkish Jews, equal citizens with constitutional rights but only on paper, were not compensated for their loss during the Thrace Events.

March 26^th, 2015, was a significant day for Turkish Jewry. The inauguration of the Edirne Grand Synagogue was historical as it was like a long waited remedy over this entire trauma. Built in 1905 upon orders from Sultan Abdulhamid to replace the synagogues destroyed by a fire in the city, the Edirne Synagogue closed its doors due to lack of community members. The restoration of the synagogue started in 2010 by the Directorate General of Foundations and reopened its doors last year to its former glory. It is a building shining like a sun in the old Jewish neighborhood of the city. It is not important if it is one of the biggest synagogues of Europe or the world. What is important is that the synagogue is reborn in its homeland as part of the Turkish Jewish heritage of the country.

Sara and Rıfat Mitrani were the last bride and groom of the synagogue. Their daughter Gunes dreamt of getting married at the same synagogue her parents have wed. Her dream came true last Sunday. The synagogue and the Turkish Jewish community witnessed a wedding for the first time in four decades.

However, Gunes Mitrani and Harun Esenturk’s joy and the pride of the Jewish community shadowed by the anti-Semitic comments on the live stream on Periscope of this joyous occasion. The wedding was just the latest excuse for the antisemitism to resurface. 

It is very hard to remove the hate from the hearts and souls of the people. The effects of hate speech echo longer and led to unanticipated outcomes. The prejudices against the Jews are still alive in the Turkish public especially when it is almost impossible to know a Jew by person as there are almost 18,000 left among 80 million in Turkey. It is very sad that even 82 years has passed from the Thrace Events, the Jews are still fighting against antisemitism and try to be accepted as equal citizens under the modern definition of citizenship.

Following the Thrace events, Ismet Inonu, the Prime Minister of Turkey at the time, have said that “Antisemitism is not a Turkish ideology” in the National Assembly. In recent commemorations, state officials have said that “Antisemitism is limited to a marginalized few in the population.” If these statements reflect the truth, then there should be an action against hate speech. For a first time in my knowledge, a Turkish Muslim lawyer took the anti-Semitic hate speech sparkled by the wedding to the court. Let’s hope that it will make a difference and will have a positive outcome before the ongoing hate speech against the Jews and other minorities transform into a hate crime.

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