A surprising number of Turkish people are discovering they h
Turkey!
Turkish Jews
Türk Yahudileri / Türk Musevileri יהודים טורקים
Djudios Turkos / Cudios Turkos
The history of the Jews in Turkey (Turkish: Türk ,יהודים טורקים :Yahudileri or Türk Musevileri; Hebrew romanized: Yehudim Turkim; Ladino: Djudios Turkos) spans 4th century BCE to present day. That means Jews have been living in Turkey for over 2400 years continuously.
Jews have lived in In Turkey since the 6th century BCE, arriving with the Romans, and staying. This would be a brief history.
Roman and Byzantine Period 4th century BCE-130 BCE
Jews arrived in Turkey with the Romans. There is evidence they had a vibrant community that was largely involved in trade.
Ottoman Period 1299-1922
The Ottoman period was quite good for Jews. Memet, the first Ottoman sultan, and his son Bayezid II, were quite supportive of the Jewish community.
In 1347 there was an outbreak of the black plague that resulted in a significant depopulation of Istanbul. Memet, the first sultan of the Ottoman Empire He ordered citizens of the Empire to move to Istanbul to repopulate it. This included the Romaniote Jews (Greek speaking ethnic Jews from the Eastern Mediterranean). As a result, 10% of Istanbul’s population was Jewish.
Between 1421-1453, Ashkenazi Jews migrated to Istanbul, creating a second and separate Jewish community living under the protection of the sultan.
Bayezid II: Memet’s son
I think this period of Turkish history is brilliant. When Ferdinand and Isabella had the stupid idea to expel the Jewish population in 1492, throw out the drivers of the Spanish economy, Bayezid II was like…. What are they crazy? This sultan issued an official invitation to any Spanish Jew that wanted to come to Istanbul. Not only that, but once the Spanish Jews were ensconced in Istanbul, he issued another decree. No person in the Ottoman Empire could molest Jews living there. He saw the Jewish community as being good for business, good for the empire, and he did as much as he could to make certain they were happy and comfortable.
In his age, there were at least 30,000 Jews living in Istanbul alone, with 44 synagogues.
This supportive environment was not really conducive to Hidden Jewish Ancestry. Jewish Ancestry was not a detriment.
But then history takes a weird twist of fate. A Izmir Rabbi, Sabatai Zvi, decided he was the new Messiah. And many Jewish person in the Jewish world, both Christian and Muslim, decided that was a fact. This made him super unpopular with both the Jewish and Christian establishment. If you want to do some interesting reading, read about Sabatai Tzvi. You wont be bored. He did not live long, but, those were some busy years!
In any event, at a point, he came under the gaze of the Ottoman Sultan, Memet IV. Memet IV gave Sabatai a choice. Die or convert to Islam. He chose to convert to Islam, as did his wife, and 300 families of ardent followers. This happened on September 16, 1666. These people largely relocated to Salonika where they opened their own Mosque. Remember, his followers thought Sabatai was the Messiah so they were inclined to follow his instructions. Amongst many of his dictates included observing all Muslim holidays in a very public way. While retaining their Jewish practices at home. He also stipulated that they should marry only amongst themselves, avoiding marrying Jews and Muslims alike. They were called Donmeh by the Ottomans. Don being the root and meaning “to turn or change”. Donmeh indicated they had changed their religion from Judaism to Islam. They called themselves Ha’mayminim, the believers.
So, Sabatai Zvi single handedly created an actual religious sect of secret Jews. These families lived in Salonika and prospered there until world events turned their world upside down. When Greece and Turkey settled their differences, one of the provisions was that the Muslims that lived in the territories that became Greek, would move back to Turkey. This population exchange, which occurred in 1923, resulted in all the Donme moving back to Turkey, and primarily to Istanbul.
There is a lot to know about the Donme. As far as I can see, Marc David Baer is the worlds leading expert on the subject. He wrote a great book on the on the Donme. I have made if available below. But here are the key facts.
This group of secret Jews suddenly found themselves living in Turkey(1923) and then they really needed to keep their undercover Jewish faith a secret. And they were and are really good at it. People like Marc David Baer had to go to great lengths to gain access into the secret world of the Donme and, rightly so, carefully protect the identity of these secret Jews who would really like to remain secret.
This story of the Donme came to my attention when a Turkish man, who thought he was 100% Turkish, discovered through DNA ancestry testing, he was 100% Sephardic Jewish. He had no clue how this was possible. Well, turns out, he came from a long line of Donme, Sephardic Jews who had become Muslim, lived in Salonika, and then Istanbul. His parents did not tell him because they did not want to tell him. But, DNA spilled the beans.
If you are Turkish, and you discover you have Sephardic DNA, you need to learn more about the Donme.
Interesting Articles about the Donme
Want to know more? Here are some good articles on the Donme
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/turkish-jewrys-secret-medieval-messianics-survive-456030
https://newrepublic.com/article/73081/the-other-secret-jews
One of the way Donme can trace their roots is through cemetery search. Though the Donme may live secretive lives, they do have distinctive burial rituals and gravestones. The Bulbulderesi an Selanikliler Cemetry in Istanbul are both know for being the final resting place of Donem.
https://istanbultarihi.ist/548-historic-cemeteries-in-istanbul
audio recording on the subject with Marc David Baer
https://www.jmberlin.de/en/history-jews-and-doenme-turkey
