First Jewish Museum Opened

The first Jewish Museum in Turkey was opened in Istanbul on Nov. 25. The museum is located in the Zulfaris Synagogue, which was transformed into a museum and can be found in the Karakoy district close to the Galata Bridge and the Golden Horn. The exhibition stretches over three floors and explores the cultural heritage of Turkish Jews over the passed seven centuries starting from the Ottoman conquest of Bursa in 1326.

The main part of the exhibition focuses on the Jewish contribution to the social, intellectual and political life and the interaction with the majoritarian population, e.g. one section is dedicated to the Jewish contribution to the press life of the country. This part also contains material relating to the Jewish members of the Ottoman Parliament, physicians at the Imperial Court, diplomats, academicians, police officers and civil servants.

The former women's gallery hosts photographs of Turkish Jews through time and explores various case stories. The ethnographic section in the basement focuses on customs of Turkish Jews such as birth, circumcision, trousseau and wedding and explores the influence of the broader society.

Among those attending the ceremony were Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, First Army Commander Gen. Cetin Dogan, US Ambassador Robert Pearson, Israeli Ambassador David Sultan, the British Ambassador David Logan, French Ambassador Bernard Garcia and representatives from the Jewish community. Yilmaz said at the ceremony, "Our mutual legacy of tolerance, justice and freedom of faith, which symbolizes the Turks' and the Jews' common history, was hard to achieve but maintaining it will be even harder."

Even if the Jewish presence in Anatolia dates back to the 4th century BC, the most important year for the presence of Jews in Turkey was the year 1492 when Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain. A large number of these Sephardic Jews found refugee in the Ottoman Empire, later also Central and Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews fled to the Ottoman Empire.

To commemorate the arrival of the Sephardic Jews and the presence of Jews in Turkey the Quincentennial Foundation was established in 1989 by a group of 113 Turkish citizens, Jews and Moslems alike. The foundation was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the museum.

Today, about 25.000 Jews live in Turkey of which about 95% are Sephardic. The large majority is concentrated in Istanbul, but there are smaller communities in several other cities.

The museum is open from Monday to Thursday from 10am to 4 pm and on Friday and Sunday from 10am to 2pm, it is closed on Saturdays. Admission is only charged for groups bigger than 10 people at Karakoy Meydani, Percemli Sokak, Karakoy Istanbul, phone: 0090 212 292 63 33, Fax: 0090 212 244 44 74, e-mail: [email protected]

The Quincentennial Foundation can be reached at:

http://www.sephardichouse.org/quincentennial-foundation.html

Contact information: Cemal Sahir Sokak, 26-28, Mecidiyekoy, Istanbul, Turkey

Tel: 0090 / 0212 275 39 44 Fax: 0090 / 0212 274 26 07