Abstract: Cyprus is not only the island of Aphrodite and love, it is also a meeting place for many people and cultures. There is evidence of a Jewish presence in Cyprus since the Hellenistic period dating back to the third century BCE, when there were trade relations established between Cyprus and the Land of Israel. The Jews had close relationships with many of the other religious groups on the island and were perceived favourably by the first Muslims who arrived here in seventh century CE. This chapter endeavours to present Jewish-Muslim relations, emphasising the past three centuries, including Ottoman and British rule, to the present day. Jews as adherents of a religion revealed by God, possessed a scripture, and were given a better status than those who were non-monotheistic given by Muslim authorities. Conversely, Jews suffered greatly after World War II when they traveled to Palestine via Cyprus, as it became a safe haven, where Jews, aided by Muslim and Christians were kept in refugee camps before being transported to Israel. This study examines historical conditions that led to friendship and intercultural understanding, which has been the foundation of positive modern coexistence, trade, and exchanges of ideas in the present day. In addition, it answers the following questions: Were Jews able to keep their religion and be treated equally? How did Ottoman Muslims treat the Jews and how do Turkish Cypriots, an important population group on the island today treat Jews? How do cultural and religious differences influence interethnic, intercultural and interreligious relations today?
Abstract: In den meisten islamischen Ländern fanden - anders als in Europa - keine gezielten Ermordungen von Jüdinnen und Juden oder Deportationen in Todeslager statt. Dieser Band geht der Frage nach, wie Musliminnen und Muslime als scheinbar "Unbeteiligte" zum Holocaust stehen. Behandelt werden unter anderem die Teilnahme von Muslimen am Holocaustgedenken, die Wahrnehmung der Schoah im arabischen und türkischen Raum sowie unter muslimischen Jugendlichen und die wachsende Verwendung antisemitischer Parolen.
Die Einstellungen von Muslimen zum Holocaust reichen von Mitgefühl und Anteilnahme über Gleichgültigkeit und die Frage "Was hat das mit uns zu tun?" bis zu Verharmlosung oder List es, so das Fazit, in der schulischen und außerschulischen Bildung umfassend über die Geschichte aufzuklären und dabei Perspektiven von Migrantinnen und Migranten stärker zu berücksichtigen.
Mit Beiträgen von Joëlle Allouche-Benayoun, Rifat Bali, Georges Bensoussan, Mehmet Can, Monique Eckmann, Remco Ensel, Evelien Gans, Karoline Georg, Ruth Hatlapa, Günther Jikeli, Philip Spencer, Kim Robin Stoller, Annemarike Stremmelaar, Sara Valentina di Palma, Esther Webman, Juliane Wetzel und Michael Whine
Abstract: The Fifth Survey of European Jewish Community Leaders and Professionals, 2021 presents the results of an online survey offered in 10 languages and administered to 1054 respondents in 31 countries. Conducted every three years using the same format, the survey seeks to identify trends and their evolution in time.
Even if European Jewish leaders and community professionals rank antisemitism and combatting it among their first concerns and priorities, they are similarly committed to expanding Jewish communities and fostering future sustainability by engaging more young people and unaffiliated Jews.
The survey covers a wide variety of topics including the toll of COVID-19 on European Jewish communities and a widening generational gap around pivotal issues. Conducted every three years since 2008, the study is part of JDC’s wider work in Europe, which includes its partnerships with local Jewish communities and programs aiding needy Jews, fostering Jewish life and leaders, resilience training.
The respondents were comprised of presidents and chairpersons of nationwide “umbrella organizations” or Federations; presidents and executive directors of private Jewish foundations, charities, and other privately funded initiatives; presidents and main representatives of Jewish communities that are organized at a city level; executive directors and programme coordinators, as well as current and former board members of Jewish organizations; among others.
The JDC International Centre for Community Development established the survey as a means to identify the priorities, sensibilities and concerns of Europe’s top Jewish leaders and professionals working in Jewish institutions, taking into account the changes that European Jewry has gone through since 1989, and the current political challenges and uncertainties in the continent. In a landscape with few mechanisms that can truly gauge these phenomena, the European Jewish Community Leaders Survey is an essential tool for analysis and applied research in the field of community development.
Abstract: In this paper I critically examine the conflation of Turk with Muslim, explore the Turkish experience of Nazism, and examine Turkey's relation to the darkest era of German history. Whereas many assume that Turks in Germany cannot share in the Jewish past, and that for them the genocide of the Jews is merely a borrowed memory, I show how intertwined the history of Turkey and Germany, Turkish and German anti-Semitism, and Turks and Jews are. Bringing together the histories of individual Turkish citizens who were Jewish or Dönme (descendants of Jews) in Nazi Berlin with the history of Jews in Turkey, I argue the categories “Turkish” and “Jewish” were converging identities in the Third Reich. Untangling them was a matter of life and death. I compare the fates of three neighbors in Berlin: Isaak Behar, a Turkish Jew stripped of his citizenship by his own government and condemned to Auschwitz; Fazli Taylan, a Turkish citizen and Dönme, whom the Turkish government exerted great efforts to save; and Eric Auerbach, a German Jew granted refuge in Turkey. I ask what is at stake for Germany and Turkey in remembering the narrative of the very few German Jews saved by Turkey, but in forgetting the fates of the far more numerous Turkish Jews in Nazi-era Berlin. I conclude with a discussion of the political effects today of occluding Turkish Jewishness by failing to remember the relationship between the first Turkish migration to Germany and the Shoah.
Abstract: Der Fachkräfteaustausch "Commitment without Borders – Transnational Network against Antisemitism" zwischen Deutschland und der Türkei ist ein Partnerprojekt von KIgA und den Organisationen Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfi (TOG) und Karakutu („Blackbox“) aus Istanbul. Das Projekt befasst sich mit den unterschiedlichen Erfahrungen, Herausforderungen und Chancen von historisch-politischer Bildung zum Holocaust und der kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit Antisemitismus in beiden Ländern.
Im gegenseitigen Austausch erkunden Praktiker_innen aus Wissenschaft, außerschulischer Bildung und Gedenkstättenpädagogik die Geschichte und Gegenwart von Vorurteilen, Diskriminierung und politischer Gewalt sowie der Erinnerungskulturen in den jeweiligen nationalen Kontexten. Im Rahmen gemeinsamer Studienreisen, Workshops und Fachtagungen setzen sie sich mit aktuellen Diskursen auseinander, lernen pädagogische Akteure, Ansätze und Methoden kennen und entwickeln gemeinsam Handlungsstrategien. Erste Ergebnisse aus dem gemeinschaftlichen Lern- und Arbeitsprozess werden in Form der vorliegenden Publikation zugänglich gemacht.
Im ersten Kapitel mit dem Titel "Theorie Antisemitismus und Holocaust Education – Hintergründe und Diskurse" vermitteln Projektteilnehmer_innen Einblicke in Diskurse und zeigen die unterschiedlichen gesellschaftlichen Voraussetzungen in der Türkei und in Deutschland auf.
Das zweite Kapitel mit dem Titel "Praxis Einblicke in die pädagogische Arbeit" umfasst die Darstellung einiger der Methoden, die im Laufe des Projektes durchgeführt, diskutiert und bearbeitet wurden. Der Auswahl liegt der Wunsch nach Vermittlung einer möglichst großen Diversität von pädagogische-didaktischen Zugängen wie auch inhaltlichen Bezügen des Themenfelds zugrunde.
Das dritte Kapitel mit dem Titel "Reflexionen Rückblicke auf das Projekt und Ausblicke in die Zukunft" bezieht sich auf den diskursiven und produktiven Charakter des Projekts. Es spiegelt die kritischen Reflexionen und intensiven Diskussionen zu den im Laufe des Projektes vorgestellten, angedachten und besprochenen Inhalten und gibt somit einen vertieften Einblick in die partnerschaftliche Arbeit und den intensiven Austausch.
Die Publikation schließt mit einem Serviceteil, in dem sich die Projektpartner in beiden Ländern vorstellen.
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Muslim, Antisemitism: Far right, Anti-Zionism, Holocaust Denial, Holocaust Memorials, Holocaust Education, Holocaust Commemoration, Holocaust, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Jewish - Muslim Relations
Topics: Main Topic: Other, Circumcision / Brit Milah, Newspapers, Magazines and Periodicals, Media, National Identity, Islam, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations, Body
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Religious Denominations, Security, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity
Abstract: The Fourth Survey of European Jewish Community Leaders and Professionals, 2018 presents the results of an online survey offered in 10 languages and administered to 893 respondents in 29 countries. Conducted every three years using the same format, the survey seeks to identify trends and their evolution in time.
The survey asked Jewish lay leaders and community professionals questions regarding future community priorities, identifying the main threats to Jewish life, views on the safety and security situation in their cities, including emergency preparedness, and opinions on an array of internal community issues. Examples include conversions, membership criteria policies on intermarriage, and their vision of Europe and Israel.
The respondents were comprised of presidents and chairpersons of nationwide “umbrella organizations” or Federations; presidents and executive directors of private Jewish foundations, charities, and other privately funded initiatives; presidents and main representatives of Jewish communities that are organized at a city level; executive directors and programme coordinators, as well as current and former board members of Jewish organizations; among others.
The JDC International Centre for Community Development established the survey as a means to identify the priorities, sensibilities and concerns of Europe’s top Jewish leaders and professionals working in Jewish institutions, taking into account the changes that European Jewry has gone through since 1989, and the current political challenges and uncertainties in the continent. In a landscape with few mechanisms that can truly gauge these phenomena, the European Jewish Community Leaders Survey is an essential tool for analysis and applied research in the field of community development.
The Survey team was directed by Dr. Barry Kosmin (Trinity College), who has conducted several large national social surveys and opinion polls in Europe, Africa and the U.S., including the CJF 1990 US National Jewish Population Survey.
Abstract: Bu çalışmada, İstanbul’un tarihsel kentsel kimliğinde gömülü olan etkin varlıklarına rağmen, Cumhuriyet’in inşasıyla birlikte kimliklerini ait oldukları kentin “azınlığı, ötekisi, yabancısı” olarak sancılı süreçler boyunca yeniden kurmak zorunda kalan Rumların, Yahudilerin ve Ermenilerin kendi kimlik, benlik algıları kamusal, politik ve özel alan düzlemlerinde gündelik hayat pratikleri üzerinden çözümlenmeye çalışılmıştır. İstanbul kentindeki “gayrimüslim-azınlık” kimliklerinin bu inşa süreci farklı kuşak, sosyal sınıf ve cinsiyet değişkenleriyle incelenmiştir. Doktora tezi kapsamında dört yıl gibi bir süreye yayılan saha çalışması; İstanbul’un Rumlarının, Yahudilerinin ve Ermenilerinin yaşantılarını, deneyimlerini, azınlık olmaktan kaynaklı sorunlarını, kimi zaman da avantaja dönüşen halleri kendi seslerinden görünür hâle getirebilmek amacıyla niteliksel araştırma tekniklerinden derinlemesine mülakat, odak grup ve sözlü tarihin kullanıldığı geniş ölçekli bir araştırmaya dayanmaktadır.
Abstract: Bu çalışmada İstanbul’un Rum, Yahudi ve Ermenilerinin Lozan Antlaşması’ndan sonra azınlık olarak kendi kimliklerini ve gündelik hayatlarını yeniden inşa etme süreçleri, tarihsel arka planı dikkate alarak, kolektif belleğin oluşumu ve kamusal/politik/özel alanın inşası çerçevesinde analiz edilmektedir. Bu bağlamda özetle, Cumhuriyetin kuruluşundan bugüne kadar gayrimüslim azınlıkların çoğunluktan farklı olan dini-etnik kimliklerinin kentteki inşa süreçleri, pratikleri ve bu inşa sürecini etkileyen dinamikler; eşit vatandaş ve azınlık olma arasında yaşadıkları siyasi ve sosyal çelişkiler; bu çelişkili durumlar karşısında ürettikleri kimlik stratejileri; hem devletle hem de geniş toplumla kurdukları ilişkiler gündelik hayat pratikleri üzerinden çözümlenmeye çalışılmıştır. İstanbul kentindeki “gayrimüslim-azınlık” kimliklerinin bu inşa süreci farklı kuşak, sosyal sınıf ve cinsiyet değişkenleriyle incelenmiştir. Tez çalışmasında İstanbul’un gayrimüslimlerinin yaşantılarını, deneyimlerini, azınlık olmaktan kaynaklı sorunlarını kendi seslerinden görünür hale getirebilmek amacıyla niteliksel araştırma tekniklerinden derinlemesine mülakat, odak grup ve sözlü tarih kullanılmıştır. Çalışmada İstanbul’un üç azınlık cemaatinin azınlık kimliklerinin oluşumunda kolektif belleklerindeki travmalar ve bu travmaların çeşitli stratejilerle kuşaklararası aktarımı; mekansal aidiyetlerini ve kimliklerini oluşturan tarihsel, kültürel ve iktisadi dinamikler; gayrimüslim azınlık kimliği ile uğranılan dışlanma ve ayrımcılıkların vatandaşlık ve ulusal aidiyetin oluşumu üzerindeki etkileri; kamusal, politik ve özel alanda gayrimüslim azınlık olmanın anlamı ve giderek azalan nüfusları ile İstanbul’da mekanda büzüşme ve dağılma halleri analiz edilmektedir. Tez çalışması, yukarıda açıklanan çerçevede üç cemaati, sınıf, cinsiyet ve kuşak kriterleri ile karşılaştırmalı olarak analiz etmeye olanak veren, niteliksel araştırma tekniklerinin kullanıldığı geniş ölçekli bir araştırmaya dayanmaktadır.
Abstract: This article is an autobiographical contribution recounting the entanglement of Turkish, Jewish and Armenian memories in contemporary Turkey. The ‘special friendship’ between Turkey and the Sephardic Jews, who were given refuge by the Ottoman Empire after escaping the Inquisition in Spain in 1492, has always been used as evidence of the generosity and toleration of Ottoman and subsequent Turkish rule. Recent historical research shows that these claims are both historically inaccurate and politically instrumental. Nevertheless, the Sephardic-Jewish sense of gratitude towards their Turkish protectors, as well as their continuing sense of vulnerability, is acute. Particularly in the year of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide (2015), the tangled memories of Jews, Turks and Armenians have been on display with official commemorations of the tragedy of the vessel Struma carrying Jewish refugees from Romania to Palestine (1942) and the battle over Gallipoli (1915). The Battle of Gallipoli is presented by the Turkish authorities as the beginning of the Turkish war of independence (1919–23) against imperial powers, thus emphasizing that the Armenian Genocide was part of a complex history, the purpose of which was to liberate Turkey from foreign domination. The article analyses the symbolic connections among these events and concludes by looking at the geopolitics of contemporary Turkish–Israeli relations and their impact on Armenian Genocide recognition attempts in the USA.
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Religious Denominations, Security, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity
Abstract: Launched by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s International Centre for Community Development (JDC-ICCD), and conducted by a research team at Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut, USA) between June and August 2015, the Third Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers presents the results of an online survey administered to 314 respondents in 29 countries. The survey was conducted online in five languages: English, French, Spanish, German and Hungarian. The Survey of European Jewish Leaders and Opinion Formers is conducted every three or four years using the same format, in order to identify trends and their evolution. Findings of the 2015 edition were assessed and evaluated based on the results of previous surveys (2008 and 2011). The survey posed Jewish leaders and opinion formers a range of questions about major challenges and issues that
concern European Jewish communities in 2015, and about their expectations of how communities will evolve over the next 5-10 years. The 45 questions (see Appendix) dealt
with topics that relate to internal community structures and their functions, as well as the external environment affecting communities. The questionnaire also included six open-ended questions in a choice of five languages. These answers form the basis of the qualitative analysis of the report. The questions were organized under the following headings:• Vision & Change (6 questions)
• Decision-Making & Control (1 question)
• Lay Leadership (1 question)
• Professional Leadership (2 questions)
• Status Issues & Intermarriage (5 questions)
• Organizational Frameworks (2 questions)
• Community Causes (2 questions)
• Jewish Education (1 question)
• Funding (3 questions)
• Communal Tensions (3 questions)
• Anti-Semitism/Security (5 questions)
• Europe (1 question)
• Israel (1 question)
• Future (2 questions)
• Personal Profile (9 questions)
Abstract: Porträts von 17 jüdischen Gemeinden in Europa.
Am Ende eines für Europa geschichtsträchtigen und vor allem für Juden tragischen Jahrhunderts entwerfen 18 Autoren individuell gestaltete, einander ergänzende Porträts jüdischer Gemeinden, die Auskunft geben über das Leben und Wirken der Gemeinschaften, über deren Gegenwart und Vergangenheit, ihre Strukturen und Voraussetzungen. Diese Bestandsaufnahmen des jüdischen Lebens führen quer durch Europa: nach Österreich, England, Frankreich und Deutschland. Es folgen Beiträge über die Türkei, einen jahrhundertealten Zufluchtsort für Juden, den jüdischen Nachwuchs in Osteuropa, über Thessaloniki, die Juden im Gebiet der ehemaligen Sowjetunion, deren Gemeinschaft durch anhaltende Emigration bedroht ist, und über die wirtschaftliche und soziale Not der ukrainischen Juden. Der Leser erfährt von der Entwicklung der kleinen aber dynamischen jüdischen Gemeinde von Litauen, von jener in Estland und von der unerwarteten Wiedergeburt des Judentums in Polen, dem einzigen Land in Europa mit einer wachsenden jüdischen Bevölkerung. Nach einem Beitrag über die neuerwachten Gemeinden Prag und Bratislava gibt der Band einen Überblick über die Geschichte des Judentums im Rumänien des 20. Jahrhunderts, erzählt von der »ungarischen Renaissance« und porträtiert die kroatische jüdische Gemeinde, die nun, nach beinahe 50 Jahren wieder einen Rabbiner hat. In einem abschließenden Essay fordert die französische Historikerin Diana Pinto das Wiederentstehen einer europäischen jüdischen Identität und gemahnt die Gemeinden an ihre Pflicht der Erinnerung.
Topics: Antisemitism, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Israel Attachment, Jewish Continuity, Religious Denominations, Security, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Jewish Organisations, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity
Abstract: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve onun devamı olan Türkiye Cumhuriyeti azınlıklara hoşgörü örnekleri olarak gösterilegelmiştir. Hatta bugün bazı Türkler, geçmişte kalan Osmanlı kozmopolitizmine karşı nostaljik hisler beslemektedirler. Marcy Brink-Danan, geçmişe dair bu görüşleri sorgularken, Yahudilerin gözünde, günümüz İstanbul’unda hoşgörülen bir azınlık olarak yaşamanın ne anlama geldiğini mercek altına alıyor. Çoğunlukla “iyi azınlık” olarak tasvir edilen Türkiye’deki Yahudiler, bölgedeki uzun geçmişlerini kucaklarken, bir yandan da ayrımcılığa maruz kalıyorlar; kurumları, düzenli olarak tehdit ve saldırılara hedef oluyor. Brink-Danan Türkiye’yi bir hoşgörü diyarı olarak resmeden Türk popüler ideolojisindeki çelişki ve boşlukları keşfe çıkarak, Türk Yahudilerin kozmopolitizm ve yurtseverlik, hoşgörü ve şiddet, Yahudiler olarak farklılık ve Türkiye yurttaşları olarak aynılık arasındaki gerilimlerle nasıl başa çıktığını anlatıyor. Marcy Brink-Danan, Columbia Üniversitesi, Barnard Koleji, Antropoloji Bölümünden lisans, Stanford Üniversitesi Kültürel ve Sosyal Antropoloji Bölümünden yüksek lisans ve doktora derecelerini aldı. Avrupa ve çeperlerinde yurttaşlık, din ve laiklik ekseninde dilsel stratejiler üzerine çalışıyor. Araştırmalarını altı yıl Brown Üniversitesinde yürüten Brink-Danan, Kudüs’teki İbrani Üniversitesi, Antropoloji Bölümünde çalışmaktadır.
Abstract: In this article, I discuss the anthropological value of focusing on ontological processes in which seemingly local, native, or indigenous people are reclassified as foreigners. Building on theories of language and time, I show, through the ethnographic example of Jewish naming in Istanbul, how names come to signify foreignness. I also explore naming as a process through which the subjects of reclassification themselves understand present-day ontologies as historically informed and context dependent. By studying moments of categorical reassignment, I detail the social semiotic processes that drive the classification of signs as indices of belonging or exclusion. Anthropologists increasingly study military, juridical, and economic ontologies that reorder, relocate, and restrict human (and nonhuman) groups. I illuminate a quieter space, that of naming, through which classifications are made and undone.
Abstract: Cumhuriyet döneminin en az incelenen konularından biri, genel olarak azınlıkların, özel olarak da Yahudilerin ülkemizdeki tarihidir. Türkiye'de Yahudilerin tarihi daima "seçici" bir tarih anlayışı ile incelenmiş, okura, araştırmacıya aktarılan tarih, "olan biten" değil, "anlatılmak istenen" tarih olmuştur. Bu seçicilik, sadece pembe rengin egemen olduğu tek boyutlu bir tarih anlatımını egemen kılmış, aynı zamanda toplumsal belleğin bir bölümü yok edilmiş, veya en azından yok edilmek istenmiştir. Gülü dikeninden ayırmayan, geçmişi yapay bir şekilde yüceltmeyen ve Türkiye Yahudilerinin tarihini abartılı bir "hoşgörü" söyleminden kurtarıp gerçekçi bir şekilde aktaran Avner Levi'nin elinizdeki eseri, şüphesiz sadece Türkiye Yahudilerini yakından ilgilendirmekle kalmıyor, bu topraklar üzerinde yaşayan herkes için fazlasıyla önemli konulara da el atıyor. Burada anlatılanlar, Türkiye toplumunun toplumsal belleğinden silinmeye çalışan tarihin bir bölümüdür.
Abstract: Contemporary liberal democracies confront governance problems elicited by the discord between the principles of equality and difference, and between the concepts of majority and minority. Citizenship came to be recognized as a vital governance tool in response to this challenge evidenced by growing academic and political interest in the concept. The basic precept that citizenship refers to is a constitutionality-based relationship between the individual and the state, implying a unique, reciprocal, and unmediated bond between the individual and the political community.
It is argued that citizenship has three main aspects. First is the legal status aspect, which enfolds citizenship in terms of civil, political, and social rights, plus duties such as obeying laws, paying taxes, and performing military service. The second aspect is the identity dimension of citizenship, which regards individuals' membership in different social and political groups in multiple categories of race, class, ethnicity, religion, gender, profession, and sexuality. The third aspect is related to citizens' capacities, responsibilities, and willingness to cooperate, in short the civic virtue that the citizens possess and perform. The sense of identity that citizens have; their maneuvers to deal with competing identities; their willingness to participate in collective decisions and access to political processes; their sense of belonging to the social, political, and economic order; and their initiative potency all refer to different features of civic virtue. All in all, modern citizenship is perceived as the combination of legal status, social roles, and moral attributes that necessitate "good citizenry."
It has been suggested that these three aspects of citizenship—legal status, identity, and civic virtue—are interrelated; as the sensitivity to identities increases, demands for legal rights increase correspondingly. It is also claimed that identity affects the way people perform their duty of civic participation and their conception of responsibility. From another point of view, it is also argued that the three components of citizenship conflict with one another under certain circumstances. For instance, claims for cultural recognition of minorities may conflict with equal citizenship status. An empirical investigation of citizenship is complementary to understanding the interaction between these three aspects. This study undertakes the crucial task of providing evidence from the field to illuminate the complex correlations and divergences within citizenship and the relational bond between the legal status, identity, and civic virtue aspects.
In this article, the results of qualitative research on a particular group of citizens—Turkish citizens with Jewish background—are discussed in the light of the parameters set above. The study provides empirical evidence to illuminate the dynamics at stake in the relationship between the legal status, identity, and civic virtue aspects in the specificity of Turkey's Jews and the conduct of Turkish citizenship. With the use of in-depth interviews conducted with the sample group of Jews, the study attempts to understand how being a non-Muslim minority group living in a Muslim-predominant society influences the perceptions and experiences regarding citizenship.
The discussion developed in the article is presented in three parts. In the first part, an overview of Turkish citizenship and the status of non-Muslim minorities per se is put forth. This part also sets forth the essentials of Turkish citizenship with its legal status, identity, and civic virtue aspects. In addition, the paradoxical consequences of the dominant paradigms inherent in citizenship in Turkey regarding non-Muslim minorities are demonstrated. The second part focuses on the field research conducted with the Jewish community in Turkey. After a brief summary of methodology and a portrayal of the general characteristics of the sample group, it discusses how members of Turkey's Jewish community experience and perceive Turkish citizenship through its aspects of legal status, identity, and civic virtue. The respondents' perceptions and experiences regarding being Turkish citizens and a non-Muslim minority are also covered. The third part offers a discussion on Turkish citizenship in the light of the research results and gives a citizen-centric account through the lenses of respondents.
Abstract: This book traces the mixing of musical forms and practices in Istanbul to illuminate multiethnic music-making and its transformations across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It focuses on the Jewish religious repertoire known as the Maftirim, which developed in parallel with "secular" Ottoman court music. Through memoirs, personal interviews, and new archival sources, the book explores areas often left out of those histories of the region that focus primarily on Jewish communities in isolation, political events and actors, or nationalizing narratives. Maureen Jackson foregrounds artistic interactivity, detailing the life-stories of musicians and their musical activities. Her book amply demonstrates the integration of Jewish musicians into a larger art world and traces continuities and ruptures in a nation-building era. Among its richly researched themes, the book explores the synagogue as a multifunctional venue within broader urban space; girls, women, and gender issues in an all-male performance practice; new technologies and oral transmission; and Ottoman musical reconstructions within Jewish life and cultural politics in Turkey today.
Topics: Aliyah, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, Community Relations, Diaspora, Immigration, International Relations, Jewish - Muslim Relations, Migration, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Future
Abstract: This study explores the current situation of Istanbul Jewry—a small Jewish community within Turkey’s large Muslim majority. In particular, it focuses on the changes that have taken place in the languages spoken by the community over the last century, in order to explore the experiences of transformation and integration within a religious minority in Turkey. The political, cultural, and social causes of language change among Istanbul Jews raise questions related to identity, culture, belonging, assimilation, resistance, and equality. The study thus relates the history of Istanbul Jewry to theories of language change, diaspora, and collective memory, reflecting on data gathered through personal observation, in-depth interviews, and analysis of primary and secondary sources. The qualitative findings suggest that the use of a particular language (Ladino, French or Turkish) has meant different things to different generations: The older generations see themselves as distinct because of their Ladino heritage, accepting their marginal position in wider society and making no effort to change it. In contrast, the younger generation is better integrated, speaking no Ladino and seeing little difference between themselves and the rest of Turkish society. Nevertheless, the state, politicians and the majority of the Muslim population continue to reproduce a discourse of Jews’ outsider status, with which the younger generation must contend.
Topics: Jewish Future, Strategic Planning, Globalisation, Israel-Diaspora Relations, Diaspora, Antisemitism, Main Topic: Other, Demography, Jewish Identity, Jewish Community, Jewish Status, Jewish Education, Religious Observance and Practice
