CENTRE for RELIGIOUS PLURALISM in the MIDDLE EAST

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Abstract

While various studies suggest that anti-Semitism is almost non-existent in Turkish society, the popularity of the conspiratorial rhetoric about Jews raises question marks about this view. This article probes into contemporary anti-Semitism in Turkey by scrutinizing conspiracy theories about a crypto-Judaic society called Dönme. It explores the influence of the paranoid style in Turkish politics, known as the Sèvres syndrome, on the popular conspiracy theories with

Sept. 6-7 marked the 60th anniversary of pogroms against non-Muslims in Istanbul that forced thousands to emigrate from Turkey. For the first time, the city’s remaining non-Muslims, now a dwindling community, held a church service to honor the victims of the pogroms.

Anti-Semitism has risen in recent years in Turkey, a U.S. State Department report has said, adding that the Turkish government has continued to discriminate against its non-Sunni Muslim citizens.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday evening hosted an iftar (fast breaking-dinner) for the representatives of Turkey's Alevi communities on the occasion of the Islamic month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar when Shiites and Alevis commemorate and mourn for the Battle of Karbala.

“We have to keep Judaism alive and sparkling. The younger generation is moving away from religion and becoming more secular. So we need some sparks, energy and enthusiasm,” says Sami Azar, a volunteer with the Turkish Chief Rabbinate Foundation - the Jewish Community of Turkey, otherwise known as the Turkish Jewish Community Center or T.J.C.

The 160-year-old Mardin Protestant Church, one of the oldest Protestant churches in the Middle East located in Artuklu, a district in the southeastern province of Mardin, has reopened following extensive restoration work.

Having almost completed its planned legislative program before officially taking over as the newly elected 64th government of Turkey, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is expected to prioritize a fresh “Alevi opening” to address the status and rights of Alevi citizens.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan extended his holiday greetings to the country's Jewish citizens on the occasion of Hanukkah.

ISTANBUL — Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday announced a set of reforms that will grant greater rights to the country’s Alevi minority, including the legal recognition of their houses of worship.

Some 45,000 Christians who fled Syria and Iraq are forced to hide their religious identity in the Turkish provinces of Yozgat, Aksaray and Çorum.

The holy night of Christmas was celebrated across Turkey late Dec. 24, gathering people of all religions and cultures visiting from around the world.

Turkey’s Jews marked a milestone Dec. 13 with a public celebration of the Hanukkah holiday, said to be the first in the republic's history after decades of Hanukkahs marked behind closed doors in synagogues or homes. Members

The problems of Alevis in Turkey are mainly a result of the Constitution, which forms the basis of the government's discriminatory policies towards religious minorities, the Association of human rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) reported on Sunday.

Granting a legal status to Alevi worship houses, known as cemevis, is a “red line” for Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), its head Mehmet Görmez has said, stating that “cemevis cannot be considered an alternative to mosques.”

Turkey's Oriental Orthodox Christians, the country's largest Christian denomination, held mass on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus, which they observe on Jan. 6.

Orthodox Christians jumped into the chilly waters of İstanbul's Golden Horn, competing to retrieve a wooden cross ceremoniously thrown in by Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Wednesday.

Representatives of Alevi non-governmental organizations have filed a joint complaint on Thursday against Religious Affairs Directorate head Mehmet Görmez after he said that presenting cemevis -- the places of worship of Alevi Muslims -- as an alternative to mosques is a "red line" for the directorate.

An historic synagogue in Istanbul has reopened with a morning prayer performed for the first time in 65 years – another significant step for Turkey’s Jewish community.

Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill has praised Turkey's policies toward the country's non-Muslim minorities, and sent messages of peace amid tense relations between the two countries since the downing of a Russian jet for violation of Turkey's airspace.

When Turkey’s official Religious Affairs Department, the Diyanet, denied a request from the Boyacikoy Yerits Mangonts Church Foundation to pay salaries to Christian clergy in Turkey, the move was challenged by the country's chief ombudsman, who asked the Prime Ministry to pay salaries to non-Muslim clergy. The Prime Ministry has not made a decision known, but non-Muslim clergy members are clearly delighted with the proposal.

Christian refugees who have fled ISIS in Iraq and Syria are practising their faith in secret now they live in a Muslim-majority nation, according to a Turkish newspaper.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has ordered an Alevi council to be established within the ministry to consult with Alevi opinion leaders to find solutions to the cemevi problem of the Alevi community in Turkey.

Turkey’s newly elected government has given signals that it may move to address the grievances of the country’s Alevi community through a new “Alevi opening.” Following its crushing election victory on Nov. 1, some think the Justice and Development Party (AKP) now has

ISTANBUL -- A Turkish court ruled on Tuesday (Jan. 26) that the government was negligent in its duty to protect three Christians who were tortured and killed in 2007 and ordered it to pay damages to the victims' families.

The European Court of Human Rights has rejected Turkey's appeal to a ruling that Turkey's failure to exempt cemevis -- Alevi places of worship -- from paying their electricity bills and the existence of compulsory religious courses at Turkish schools are in violation of the article on discrimination in the European Convention on Human Rights, İzzettin Doğan, the president of the Cem Foundation, announced on Friday.

A Turkish synagogue was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti days after holding its first prayer service in 65 years, the Turkish daily newspaper Today’s Zaman reported.

A commemoration ceremony was held in Ankara on Wednesday for Holocaust victims. Representing the government at the ceremony, EU Minister Volkan Bozkır said Turkey was vigilant against anti-Semitism and embraces the country’s Jewish community.

The government is preparing a reform package that will expand freedoms and end restrictions on identity-related issues, sources from the Prime Ministry have said. Accordingly, the new reform package to be introduced by the end of February will address issues related to cultural rights of the Kurdish population, minorities and some religious groups.

Istanbul's Neve Şalom synagogue hosted a historic wedding ceremony on Sunday night. For the first time, it was the scene of a Jewish wedding ceremony officiated by a local official. A large crowd of guests and prominent names in the Turkish Jewish community attended the ceremony at the synagogue in the city's Beyoğlu district. Murat Hazinedar, mayor of Beşiktaş, officiated the wedding of Selin Saporta and Vedat Peranva after chief rabbi İsak Haleva married the couple in a religious

With the opening of the Grand Synagogue of Edirne, the celebration of Hanukkah and memorials held for the Holocaust and the Struma disaster, 2015 was a milestone year that shattered taboos for Jews in Turkey. However, in the same year, research has shown that Turkey is a leading country for anti-Semitic sentiments. This paradox shows that Turkey's nature is one of irony.

The CEMMIS Middle East Bulletin Issue 28/June 2015 is a Greek Review of Middle Eastern Affairs that explores the situation and the role of the Christian communities across the Middle East.

Bitter experience has bred skepticism when self-proclaimed “moderate” or “peace-loving” Muslims declare they represent the true face of the faith, since such claims to date haven’t put much of a dent in the global spread of Islamic-inspired terrorism.

In 1924, a year after founding the Turkish Republic on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the country’s new leader, abolished the Ottoman Caliphate, which had been the last remaining Sunni Islamic Caliphate since 1517. Having introduced a secular constitution and a Western-style civil and criminal legal code, Atatürk shut down the dervish lodges and religious schools, abolished polygamy, and introduced civil marriage and a national beauty contest. He granted women the

The 14th edition of the International Festival of Language and Culture, formerly known as the International Turkish Language Olympiad, kicked off with a spectacular ceremony held in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.

An ancient Syriac Orthodox church in Turkey is under threat as violent clashes between Kurdish militias and the Turkish army draw closer.

There was a heart-warming news story in the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday titled: “Stray cats make their home in historic Istanbul mosque.” Accordingly, the Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi Mosque, a beautiful Ottoman artifact from the 16th century located in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, has recently become the home of not just human worshippers but also feline refugees. In the cold winter days of Istanbul, during which the city’s innumerous cats suffer, the imam of the mosque, Mustafa Efe, made the

Turkey has announced a decision to return its ambassador to the Vatican, Mehmet Paçacı, nearly 10 months after withdrawing him in protest at Pope Francis’ description of the killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I as “the first genocide of the 20th century.”

Cyber threats and physical attacks against people and churches are among the hate crimes suffered by the Protestant Church in Turkey, according to its latest Human Rights Violations report.

Yet another historical church has been unearthed in the Cappadocia region of Central Anatolia and experts are excited about its frescoes, which depict scenes hitherto unseen.

The Association of Protestant Churches has published reports since 2007 which explain the situation of Protestant churches in Turkey. The Association of Protestant Churches gives importance to the freedom of religion and belief for all people everywhere, and makes an effort to ensure this becomes reality. In order to serve this purpose, the Association desires to prepare and distribute this annual monitoring report which describes the Protestant community’s situation. In particular, we

The Orthodox church of Saint Clement, which was built at least 1,000 years ago in Ankara and is the only Byzantine-era structure in the city, has almost disappeared among office buildings.

Within the scope of the Anatolian Cultural Heritage Project, the Hrant Dink Foundation has listed the churches, synagogues, monasteries, schools, hospitals and cemeteries built by Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and Jews. Based on the results of the activities carried out over the past two-and-a-half years, the Foundation has listed 10,000 structures, of which 4,600 are Armenian, 4,100 are Greek, 650 are Assyrian and 300 are Jewish. The Foundation has made an interactive map including all

Hundreds of Muslim Georgians who live in the autonomous republic of Adjara, in southwestern Georgia, held a protest rally, on February 5, in the regional capital of Batumi. The protesters demanded that Georgian authorities give them permission to construct a new, large mosque in the city. The participants of the rally handed authorities a petition with 12,000 signatures of Muslim Georgians. According to the head of the New Mosque Construction Initiative Group, Tariel Nakaidze, “The demands

It was an emotional celebration by a congregation of a few hundred of Orthodox Christians who gathered last Saturday, Feb. 6, in the recently restored 19th century church of Voukolos (the Shepherd) in the old neighborhood of Fournaradika (the Bakers’ district). It is the only Christian Orthodox church still standing in Izmir. The spiritual

The pro-government Bugün newspaper has run a front-page story in the paper's Tuesday edition targeting a spokesperson from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Selin Sayek-Böke, because of her religion.