1. A brief historical detour through Antiquity and the High Middle Ages
If the sources mentioning the presence of Jewish communities during Antiquity on the territory of present-day Turkey seem as mystical as they are random, certain notable elements nevertheless deserve to be underlined as the relationship of the Jews with Turkey turns out to be singular. Indeed, according to the Hebrew Bible, Noah’s ark would have landed at the top of Mount Ararat, a Turkish mountainous relief inescapable of the Taurus chain in eastern Anatolian, in the immediate vicinity of the current borders of Turkey, Armenia and Iran [3]. Likewise, the New Testament contains many mentions of Jewish populations in Anatolia: Iconium (now Konya) would thus have housed a synagogue according to the Book of Acts of the Apostles (14: 1), just like the city of Efes (19: 1 ), as Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians confirms [4]. The Epistle to the Galatians is also addressed to the inhabitants of Galatia, which once housed a notorious Jewish population (the apostle Paul addresses his letter to non-Jews, visited by “Judaizing” Christians who urged them to submit to the Torah) [5].
However, beyond these religious elements, the historical accuracy of which appears necessarily questionable, Jewish historians have been able, since Antiquity, to establish the existence of Jewish communities in Anatolia and to agree with certain information provided by the texts. previously mentioned religious. This is particularly the case of the historian Titus Flavius Josephus, (real name Yosef ben Matityahu), born in 37 AD in Jerusalem (then “capital” of the Roman province of Judea) and who will become one of the leaders of the Jewish armed forces in the Galilee during the first Judeo-Roman war (66-73). He will surrender in 67 to Vespasian who, at the head of three legions, had just captured the city of Jotapata after a siege of six weeks. [6].
Sources differ on the exact fate of Josephus but agree on his enslavement by the victorious Roman general who would have used the historian as an interpreter [7]. He was released two years later when Vespasian took on the imperial toga. Josephus will then join the Roman camp of his own free will as part of the Judeo-Roman war, which was still raging in Judea and Galilee at the time. [8]. Becoming a close friend of the imperial family, he will serve as an interpreter for Titus, son of Vespasian, when the latter will lay siege to Jerusalem in 70 [9]. The destruction of the city and its temple will deal a decisive blow to the Jewish uprising, which will die out three years later [10].
The end of the civil war will mark the beginning of the role of historian that Josephus will then endeavor to take in Rome. Concentrating his work on the first century of our era and the first Judeo-Roman war, he will write in particular “the War of the Jews” (in AD 75). [11] and “Judaic Antiquities” (in 94 AD) [12], whose manuscripts and copies have survived the centuries and which today provide an inescapable light on the Jewish world during Antiquity [13].
In the case of Turkey, these works make it possible in particular to learn that several Anatolian cities hosted substantial Jewish communities. In fact, archeology has made it possible to demonstrate the existence of Jewish communities in Anatolia since the fourth century BC, particularly in the city of Sardis. [14]. These Anatolian Jewish communities placed under Roman and Byzantine aegis, mainly Greek speaking, seemed well integrated into the socio-cultural landscape of these different empires and would not have formed separate communities. [15].
This integration will however be undermined by the wish of certain Byzantine emperors – in particular Justinian I – to forcibly convert the Jews of Anatolia to Christianity. [16]. These attempts will meet with very little success but will contribute to the social marginalization of these populations. [17]. However, and although the exact status of the Jews in Asia Minor under Byzantine rule is still the subject of research by historians, the latter do not appear to have been the object of endemic hostility on the part of the populations and the Byzantine authorities [18], as it was then in Western Europe [19] (pogroms, mass expulsions, etc.) often under the watchful eye and, in many cases, under the tutelage of public and religious authorities [20].
2. The conquest of Constantinople by Mehmet the Conqueror: a first call for air for the Jews in the Ottoman Empire
The first real historical contact reported between a Jewish community and the nascent Ottoman Empire (1299-1922) consists of the takeover by the Ottomans of a synagogue in Bursa in 1324. [21]. The city was indeed taken from the Byzantines this year by Sultan Orhan (1281-1362), who then established the capital of the new empire there. [22]. This synagogue, nicknamed “the Tree of Life”, is still used today as a place of worship for the small Jewish community remaining in the city – a large hundred people at most. [23].
Generally speaking, the status of Jews in the Ottoman Empire will depend on how the Sultan feels towards them. While Sultan Murat III (1574-1559) moved several times and in different parts of his Empire Jewish populations in order to revitalize sparsely populated or less industrious territories [24], other sultans will be more righteous. Thus Bayezid II (1447-1512), reacting to the decree of Alhambra (March 31, 1492) expelling the Jews from Spain, he decided on July 31 of the same year to send the Ottoman war fleet, placed under the command of Oruc Reis [25], in order to save and bring back the expelled Jews and then invite them to settle in the Empire.
Whatever the fate of the Jews during the Ottoman era, the history of the latter will invariably be intertwined with that of the political developments of the Ottoman Empire over the centuries.
Thus, the first major event in the history of the Jews in Turkey occurs during the capture of Constantinople by Mehmed II (1432-1481) on May 29, 1453. The latter indeed finds the city ravaged by decades of deprivation, of seats [26], by the sacking of the city by the Crusaders in 1204 [27] and by the black plague pandemic in 1347 [28] : depopulated and dilapidated, Constantinople is no more than a shadow of itself, even though Mehmet II wishes to make it the capital of his empire [29].
He then initiated many reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in the city, and issued several decrees aimed at repopulating it. He thus orders that in addition to Muslims, all Christians and Jews of his empire be resettled in his new capital. [30]. In a few months, most Romaniote Jews [31] of the Empire, originating from the Balkans or Anatolia, settled in Constantinople. The Romaniote Jews were soon reinforced by small groups of Ashkenazi Jews who immigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1421 and 1453 [32].
Among them is Rabbi Yitzhak Sarfati, a German Jew with French origins – “Sarfati” meaning “French” in Hebrew – who will become Chief Rabbi of Edirne during the second half of the 15th century. In a letter which has since become famous, he invites the European Jewish community to settle in Ottoman territory, affirming that “Turkey is a land where nothing is lacking and where, if you wanted it, everything would be good for you”, asking: “Wouldn’t it be better for you to live under Muslims than under Christians? “ [33].
In fact, the second half of the 15th century will see a massive Jewish migratory influx towards Turkey, in particular during the reign of Mehmet the Conqueror’s successor, Bayezid II, who, as mentioned above, will be at the origin of the rescue and the repatriation of tens of thousands of European Jews. This will be the subject of the second part of this article.
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