Karel Valansi'nin kaleminden...

We knocked on Ankara Jewish Community Leader Can Özgön’s door to get to know Ankara Jews better, to learn about their problems, to talk about the history of the Jewish neighborhood and where the community stands today. We discussed the heavy burden they bear as a community consisting of only 35 members to preserve their history and keep their synagogue alive. The history of Ankara Jews dates back to Roman Empire. Later, Sephardic Jews joined the Jews of that era who were known as Romaniotes. Even though Ankara Jewish community was never a big community in terms of population at any period, it was definitely an important part of the city. We got together with Can Özgön, the leader of Ankara Jewish Community, to get a sense of the life of Ankara Jews, their problems and their longings.  Özgön has been actively working for Ankara Jewish Community since 1994.  He’s been the leader of the community since 2004. Together with his deputy Musa Yolak, they identify problems and try to...

Our courage to hold a public Hanukkah ceremony for the first time in history this week stemmed not from a transformation in Turkish society, but from a shift within our community. This past year has been exceptional for Turkish Jewry. On January 27, Holocaust victims were commemorated in an official service in the heart of Turkey, Ankara. Although the speaker of parliament chose to use this forum as an opportunity to paint the Palestinian issue as the center of all the Middle East's problems, we were nonetheless happy to be part of an official commemoration. Then, on February 24, Struma victims were commemorated for the first time at an official ceremony. After 73 years, senior officials joined Turkey's Jewish community at a ceremony commemorating 768 Jewish refugees who perished in 1942 as the vessel was isolated and doomed to its fate in the Black Sea. The inauguration of the Edirne Great Synagogue on March 26 was an historic day for us, too. For the first time in my l...