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MY TURKEY, MY HISTORY |  |
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| Anti Semitism? No way in Turkey!
Jews and Turks a history of mutual brotherhood, help and tolerance. A new chapter which could change the whole Middle was opened in 1995 by turkey and Israel. The military alliance Turks and Jews chose became at once a disturbing factor for many neighbours, but as much it was disturbing to them, the much it was a stabilizing factor to the whole region as well. The history of Turks and Jews date back almost 1300 years when Eastern Turks the so called Khazars decided to convert to a heavenly religion from the shamanist religion of theirs. Under king Joseph the Khazar so the legend tells, clerics of all three Abrahamic faiths were invited to the court and the king let them speak what was special about their religions. Finally when asking all in case they had to choose an other religion as they have right now the Muslim and Christian cleric declared they would convert to Judaism in case of emergency while the Jew refused any thought of conversion. This impressed king Joseph very much and he accepted Judaism as faith. The Khazar empire unfortunately fell. Today less information is left about the medieval Khazar empire. It is believed that some Tatar tribes and contemporary anatolian Turks are descendants of this Turkic - Hebrew mixed people. At least I have a friend who claims so:) |
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| Balat
Balat is the region in Istanbul where my family settled after the Greek Salonica massacres in 1913. Balat was a pearl in Istanbul at the shores of the Golden Horn (Halic). Here we see a front of a Jewish house in Balat: Jewish Magen David and Muslim Mashallah both united in harmony . In Turkey it is not unusual that people of different faiths on one hand preserve their identitiy , but on the other hand mix, however more spiritually rather than through mixed marriages. The environment is so tolerant that people invite each other to religious festivities. Muslim women in scarfs can be seen to light candles at Christmas mass, while it is not unusual either to see Jewish women to visit mosques and sacrifice animals for their home coming sons and daughters from military service. For many people this must look very starnge but it is a reality of Turkey where people have learned to accept each other as is:) |
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| The Picture may speak words may be silent | ||
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