From: HQ.GGG@FORSYTHE.STANFORD.EDU
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: News/Haber--NewSpot
Date: 17 Apr 92 14:10:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: Sunburn.9204171411.AA18763
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BITNET@forsythe.Stanford.EDU>

THANKSGIVING CEREMONY AT SYNAGOGUE

Istanbul(A.A)- The  500th anniversary  of the Jews  fleeing Spain
due to  the oppression  of the inquisition  and their  welcome in
Ottoman territories, was celebrated at the Neve Salom Synagogue.

At  the ceremony  in  Istanbul's Kuledibi  Neve Salom  Synagogue,
after  the Jewish  community's  Cheif Rabbi  in  Turkey took  his
place, a prayer, 'Minha' was said.

Later, the deputy chairman of  the 500th year Fund, Naim Guleryuz
made a  speech explaining the  meaning and the importance  of the
day. Guleryuz, who said that 500 years ago the Sephardic Jews who
were forced to accept either  Christianity or leave Spain without
ever  returning,  said farewell  to  their  graves and  treasures
instead of renouncing their religion and took up the search for a
new country.

Guleryuz, who said that only the Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II in the
East of  the Mediterranean had  welcomed the Jews'  ancestors and
had  sent  galleys   which  enabled  them  to   come  to  Ottoman
territories, said that the descendants  of the Sephardic Jews who
had  selected  Turkey  as  their country,  have  been  living  in
harmonious peaceful unity in Turkey for 500 years.

TURKISH PEOPLE

Guleryuz, who indicated  that the aim of the  ceremony held today
was to announce to the  world the Turkish people's UNIQUE display
of humanitarian principles  extended to the Jews  who had escaped
from oppression and the inqusition added:

"We believe that  in order for the international  peace the world
longs for to  materialize, the Turkish nation's  love for mankind
and the ideas  of philosophers such as Mevlana and  Yunus Emre be
popularized throughout the world.

Later, at  the ceremony, prayers were  said for the Jews  who had
deserted  their country  because  of  the oppression  experienced
during the  inquisition and also for  the miners who had  died in
the mine disaster in Zonguldak.

The ceremony  which continued with prayers  of thanksgiving ended
with  Cheif rabbi  Aseos's  prayers and  blessings for  President
Turgut Ozal and the Turkish Republic. During the ceremony, in the
section  in which  the Cheif  Rabbi, four  other rabbis  and four
Jewish scholars sat, the doors  to the compartment where the Holy
Books and the Old Testament are kept were opened.

PRAYER FOR THANKSGIVING

A prayer  of thanks giving  which was  said in Hebrew,  was about
Sultan  Beyazid II's  welcome  to  the Jews  who  had  been in  a
difficult situation in Europe.

A  prayer of  thanksgiving  was  said between  4-7  March in  all
synagogues by the Jewish communities throughout the WORLD.

PARTICIPANTS

At the  ceremony held  in Neve  Salom Synagogue,  Istanbul Deputy
governor Orhan  KIrlI, Istanbul Mufti Selahattin  Kaya, the Fener
GREEK  Orthodox Patriarch  Vartolomeos, ARMENIAN  Catholic Church
Spritual  Leader  Ohannes  Colakyan,   the  diplomatic  corps,  a
delegation  of  the Zionist  world,  businessmen  such as  Vitali
Hakko, Uzeyir Garih, Jak Kamhi  and Ishak Alaton and other guests
attended.

12, March 1992, NEWSPOT.


FLOWER EXPORTS

Antalya (A.A)- Turkish flower growers export 4.5 million blooms to
European countries every week.

Chairman of the Flower Exporters' Association, Dr. Savas Titiz said
that in Turkey production of cut flowers for export had only been
going on for the last seven years but shows fast development.
Production which started in 70 acres of greenhouses in 1985 reached
1.100 acres in 1990-91 and 1450 acres this season.

Dr. Titiz said that last year 110 million blooms were exported and
20.5 million US dolars earned. This year the target is to increase
this amount 150 million blooms and earn 25 million Us dolars.

Dr. Titiz indicated that a total of 16 firms are exporting flowers,
14 in Antalya, one in Adana and one in Mersin.

NEWSPOT

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