INTERVIEW

I am excited to start a new interview series on Şalom and I am starting them with Izzet Bana. When I thought about asking questions to successful people, I remembered who has been one of my favorite childhood memories from our community. I was getting ready for the “Grease Musical” and it was a blast. I also remember filming a few other events and performances with Izzet Bana. I am happy that he returned my request so kindly and promptly. Without further ado, here is the Q&A with Mr. Izzet Bana.

Acting Head of Post of the Consulate General of Israel in Istanbul, Ehud Moshe Eitam started his position in March 2019 in a very delicate time not just for Turkish-Israeli relations but also due to the pandemic. Once close allies, relations between Israel and Turkey have been strained for over a decade following the Cast Lead Operation in December 2008. Diplomatic relations were restored in 2016, but two years later, Turkey recalled its ambassador and asked Israel´s to leave in protest of Israel´s response to rioting on the Gaza border. Only after the historic visit of Israel´s President Isaac Herzog to Ankara in March 2022 did the two sides announce that they would be restoring full diplomatic ties, which picked up pace in 2022. Eitam witnessed the improvement of bilateral relations, which in the end reached the long waited normalization. We talked with him about the difficulties and opportunities encountered working in Turkey, the future of Turkish-Israeli relations, and his plans for the future, following his retirement from the ministry of foreign affairs.

I met with Sam Amiel, the Regional Director of JDC, the Jewish Relief Organization, who came to our country following the earthquake disaster. We discussed the JDC´s contributions to the relief efforts in the earthquake region.

One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Turkey struck on February 6 in southern Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured. One of the first countries to send aid to the affected areas was Israel which responded immediately to the international appeal from Turkey. We talked with Israel´s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat, about the Israeli rescue operations, and Turkey-Israel bilateral relations.

Turkey and Israel have officially exchanged ambassadors after years of tense relations. Israel´s ambassador to Turkey Irit Lillian presented her credentials to President Erdogan on December 27th. One of Israel´s top diplomats, Lillian, had been working tirelessly as the chargé d´affaires at the embassy in Ankara to mend bilateral relations. Lillian shared her thoughts on Turkey-Israel relations for Shalom readers. A big fan of Turkish culture, traditional music and cuisine, the ambassador is learning Turkish and promised to answer a question in Turkish in our next interview.

We went on a historical journey with Naim A. Güleryüz, who had set off with the belief that Şalom which Avram Leyon had established, should also live after Leyon, and who selflessly engaged in the founding of the new Şalom.

Israel-based Bugimi offers personalized health services in Turkey with the aim of providing the best!

Musicologist Ömür Şenol after a year´s work, has produced a brilliant documentary researching Sephardic music and culture. Şenol, who is both the director and producer of the film titled ´Sephardic Music´, also presented the stories of people in his documentary. In the framework of the documentary, he also exhibited the views of musicians, composers, writers, and academicians on the subject.

Meet Sandra Abrevaya, of Turkish origin, born and raised in USA, a successful public servant, who met her soulmate Brian Wallach while both were working for Obama during his triumphant campaign for the 2008 US Presidential Election. The couple later exchanged marriage vows in Bodrum followed by a party that ended with all their guests jumping in the sea. They had two beautiful daughters, one of them a new born, to complete the perfect picture. But then the devastating news arrived the day they were leaving the hospital with their baby. Brian was diagnosed with ALS. It was terminal. Yet this ´power couple´ decided to take action and became champions for all ALS patients in the USA. Thanks to them there is now hope for cure all around the world.

In the perspective of enhanced Turkish-Israeli relations, 4 answers to 4 questions on Turkish Jewish Lobbying with Denis Ojalvo...

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik has turned the trips he had been taking to inspect the factories having kosher certificates, into road trips where he had been following the lost traces of the Jewish heritage in Anatolia, especially in recent years. We talked about his exceptional 26-day-long travel where he chased Jewish traces on a route from Çanakkale to Nemrut, from Sakarya to Anamur.

UÖML (Ulus Jewish High School) students who have received grades above the world average in the International AP (Advanced Placement) exams, were honored by American College Board. UÖML´s 2021 graduates have been placed in distinguished universities in Turkey and abroad, once again.

Deniz Bensusan´s last film ´Bluebird Society´ has been shown at Cannes Film Festival on July 11th. Director Deniz Bensusan had made a name for herself with ´The Final Hour´. In the short film written and directed by Bensusan, produced by Eda Çarıkçı, Buket Gülbeyaz is personating Efil, who pursues her questions and doubts in a world where there is no unhappiness. We talked to Deniz Bensusan about her latest film.

Pianist, composer, soprano, music therapist Renan Koen who has placed the ´Positive Resistance´ concept in our framework of thinking, through her research and studies on Holocaust composers, and who aims to inform people all around the world with her concerts and educations, is with us, this time, with her brand-new work.

The second project of the Izmir Jewish Community Foundation: ´Strengthening the Izmir Jewish Community through Inclusive Leadership´.

Born in the USA in 1985, Avi Amon, of Turkish origin, is a versatile artist. The operas ´Salonika´ and ´Inşallah / Maşallah´ the composer-pianist-educator Avi Amon composed with inspiration from his roots and his Sephardic culture, made a great impact in the music world. We talked with the artist, whose goal is to rediscover the fading cultures, about his music and his works...

During his visit to Istanbul, we met with Mr. Javier Hergueta, the Ambassador of Spain to Ankara. We discussed Turkey-EU relations. We also talked about the Covid and vaccination situation in Spain, the second-generation vaccine that they are developing, and the law that grants Spanish nationality to Sephardic people.

We talked with the Former Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces Command, academician, writer Admiral Cihat Yayci, Turkey´s Foreign Policy concerning the Eastern Mediterranean.