Turkey’s Missing Eastern Jews: A conversation with Süleyman Şanlı author of Jews of Turkey:
Migration, Culture and Memory

Luke: In your book, you say that the starting point for your research was your hometown of Cizre. What initially got you interested in the Jewish community of Cizre? 

Süleyman: The desire to research an issue related to Cizre from an anthropological perspective was my greatest motivation for conducting this study. When we look at the studies on Cizre, it is seen that they are mostly historically based studies. From an anthropological point of view, no subject had been studied before. It is seen that different ethnic and religious communities lived in Cizre in the past. As far as we know, Jews do not currently live in Cizre. All of them immigrated to Israel. However, when I read the information that about four thousand Jews once lived in Cizre, my curiosity to study this subject grew even more. During my literature research, when I noticed that there were not many studies on other Jewish communities in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, I felt the need to fill this gap scientifically.

Luke: Your book focuses on a group of Jews called the Mizrahi. Can you tell me what makes this group distinct from the Romaniote, Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews? 

Süleyman: Among Jews in Turkey, there is not a description for Jews living in Eastern and Southeastern Turkey. At least I haven’t come across it. I chose to use the term “Mizrahi” in my book. It is possible to translate simply Mizrah as East, and Mizrahi as Eastern or Easterner. The majority of Jews living in Turkey are of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish origin. Since they are not in either of these groups I used the term “Mizrahi” for Jews living in eastern Turkey. Just as in the early days of the establishment of the State of Israel, we see that the Mizrahi Jews were not very advanced in terms of economically, politically and culturally when compared to the Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. A similar situation may also apply to Jews in the east and southeast of Turkey. There was a quite difference in cultural matters between the Western and Eastern Jews of Turkey. Western Jews lived in the cities and they were more urbanized. Eastern Jews lived in small cities and towns, so they were rather rural. Western Jews were wealthier than their eastern brethren. Besides, most western Jews were bankers and merchants, while Eastern Jews were mostly tailors, peddlers and shopkeepers. Today, Mizrahi Jews are very advanced in terms of economically, politically and culturally.

The main fact that Mizrahi Jews in general, including Mizrahi Jews who fall under my field of study distinguished from Romaniote, Sephardic or Ashkenazi Jews is the origin of their place of origin. Mizrahi Jews, refer to Jews of Middle-Eastern and North African origin that are sometimes known as Muslim-majority countries. Sephardic Jews, are from the areas around the Mediterranean Sea, including Portugal, Spain, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Ashkenazi Jews are those who originated in Eastern Europe. The Romaniote Jews are one of the oldest Jewish community that native to the Eastern Mediterranean. Of course, in addition to that this situation (origin of the place), there are many variables. Furthermore, this situation also has led to social, political, economic and cultural differences between Jewish ethnic communities.

Luke: How would you characterise the relationship between the Mizrahi and the other religious and ethnic groups in the region? Was there any difference in the way that they interacted with the Muslim majority and other minority groups? 

Süleyman: The relationship between Jews and other religious and ethnic groups can be characterized as Tolerant. According to the information I obtained from my interviewees, there were no major problems between Jews and other religious and ethnic groups, except for a few individual incidents during the period I researched. Apart from Judaism and the rituals of Jewish religion, there was not much difference between Jews and local Muslim people. Their clothing, food, social relations and in short, their culture were largely similar. Jews and Muslims celebrate and visit each other on holidays and other religious days. They would visit each other’s homes and invite each other to their wedding. They gave great importance to neighborly relations.

Luke: This segment of the Jewish community in Turkey has been understudied in comparison with other Jewish groups. Why is this?

Süleyman: Probably nobody has wondered about it scientifically, or it may not have been seen as a topic worth researching. However, I was curious and found it worth researching and after eight years of endeavor, this book came out. 

In addition to that, scholars who have dealt with Jewish communities in Turkey neglected the Eastern Jewish communities and usually investigated Ottoman Jews, Jews of Istanbul, Izmir or Thrace. Probably, one of the two reasons is the difficulty of reaching out to the members of the east and southeasteın Anatolian Jewish communities. Secondly, the Eastern Jewish communities did not have a significant population or remarkable trade or cultural activities when compared with Western Jews of Turkey.

Luke: You did a lot of fieldwork in Israel talking to members of the Turkish Mizrahi community. Could you talk me through your methodology during this fieldwork? 

Süleyman: I was aware of the fact that I had chosen a fieldwork area that was unfamiliar to me. Anthropology examines culture through a multi-perspective approach. As an anthropologist, my fieldwork follows the methodology of anthropology. I tried to conduct this fieldwork by adhering to the methodology of anthropology, meanwhile benefiting from ethnography. Sometimes it was not easy to find people. Apart from the key interviewees’ connections, during some interviews, l asked interviewees if they could recommend someone else for me to interview. I only managed to find a few people this way because interestingly many did not have any links with other members of their congregation except immediate family. They were spread out in different parts of Israel. In finding people spread over such a huge area I also benefited from some Jewish associations established by Jews of Turkey. They were helpful in finding some interviewees. Through participant observation and ethnographic in-depth interviews, I tried to collect various life stories and experiences to focus on cultural codes, symbols, rituals, customs, traditions, social and cultural relations of Jewish societies when lived together with Muslim neighbors. 

Luke: One of the things that struck me is that these communities living in Israel felt quite culturally Turkish to me in their manner and the food they cooked. As somebody who is more familiar with the south of Turkey, (I never leave Beyoğlu) did you get the same impression?

Süleyman: You are right. During the fieldwork, I got the same impression. Throughout history, wherever they live in the world, Jews have always preferred to live a coherent life to the culture of the society they live in. This is also true for the Jews living in Turkey. As I have just stated, Jews are resembles in many aspects to the members of the society they live with, except religion. Perhaps we can see this similarity mostly in culinary I mean food cultures. I should mention that Jews, especially religious Jews, follow kosher, Jewish dietary regulations. It was an unforgettable moment for me when a Jewish family from Şanlıurfa that I visited during my fieldwork offered me Lahmacun and Cig kofte made according to kosher methods. 

Luke: What was the most surprising thing you learned out of your fieldwork? 

Süleyman: I went to Israel to study only on one subject. But during the fieldwork, I realized that for an anthropologist, working in Israel was like a treasure. I can say that there are remarkable subjects to study in Israel to do scientific research and academic studies. 

Luke: Personally, what was it like interacting with this lost part of Turkish society?

Süleyman: It was a wonderful experience for me, both personally and academically. The hospitality of the people of this geography I mean eastern part of Turkey is very special and unique. When I visited the Jews immigrated from this region to Israel, I felt the hospitality of here in there. I cannot forget the emotional moments and tears they had in our first meeting. They always had a longing for the lands they migrated to and a desire to see them again.

I also saw that they try to maintain and keep their traditions and culture alive. A Jew from Diyarbakır told me “I wish you had come ten years ago.” Also, I was very upset when he said that “many of our people who could help and give you information have died.”

Luke: Your book details a lot of the push and pull factors that ultimately led to the Mizrahi community completely abandoning Turkey. One of the things that I found interesting is that your interlocutors didn’t mention the wealth tax as a reason for leaving. Obviously, this tax played a huge part in the depletion of other ethnic minorities in Turkey, so I was wondering if you have any thoughts about why this doesn’t seem to be such an issue for the Mizrahi. 

Süleyman: I couldn’t get much data on how much the wealth tax affected the Jews I interviewed because, unfortunately, I haven’t witnessed much of them talking about it. 

Yes, wealth tax generated a push on the emigration of non-Muslim minorities. Interestingly, it seem that these events did not influence migration of Jews in eastern Turkey to the same extent that they did in other parts of the country. In my interviews only one respondent from Urfa mentioned the wealth tax. He paid 6,000 Liras in wealth tax. 

However, it is a fact that the economic situation of the Jews living in the East was not very good compared to the Jews in the west. The majority of the population was made up of poor families.

Luke: If I were to visit these eastern cities, where would be a good place to see some tangible remains of these Jewish societies? 

Süleyman: Unfortunately, many tangible assets belonging to Eastern Jews do not exist today because they were not protected and they have become ruined. However, in places such as Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Siverek, Diyarbakır, Çermik, Mardin, Nusaybin, Cizre, Van / Başkale and Hakkari, which are included in my research areas, one can go to the neighborhoods where Jews lived, which were formerly known as Jewish neighborhoods. There is a Jewish cemetery in Mardin as well. Moreover, there is a water fountain named Ayn Yahud (Jewish fountain) which still remains today in Mardin. There is a synagogue in Çermik, but it has been invaded by a local family to use as a house.

Luke: Could you recommend some books that focus on the Jewish communities of Istanbul? 

Süleyman: There are very few books written specifically on Jewish communities of Istanbul Istanbul Jews. But perhaps it can be found in a lot of information about the Istanbul Jewish books written about Jews of Turkey. I can recommend several books that might be helpful. Those are

- A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul (Author Minna Rozen, Publisher: Brill) 

- Jewish Istanbul: A Collection of Memories by Roz Kohen (Publisher: Libra Yayınevi) 

- From Balat to Bat Yam: Memoirs of a Turkish Jew by Eli Shaul, (Publisher: Libra Yayınevi)