The Denver Jewish news., 1924-07-10
THE SITUATION OF THE
JEWS IN TURKEY

your, the director of Ihr school of the
llilf,vcrclu der Dcutz,hru ludon in
C0ustuHtlnoplc. sccs black outlook
for the Jews In Turkry The relations
between the Turks aud the Jews have
lost their traditional cordl0lity." he
writes In nu article on Turkey and the
Jcws" In The B'nui Birth News for
June The government Of Angorn no
longer cares 10 see In the lew, rs form.
erly, u political confederate, 1t APP
pears that the government would pre-
fer to treat him with the same Sus'
plclon that is accorded TO the Greek
and the Armenian. Jewish education
Is threatened. &C.. II these reports are
true a historical situation that has
lasted four and a half centuries would
be- huially ended. II would be the
end Of the Jewish Mi'lct,'
"'Millet Is the official title Of the
collective Jcwry In the Turkish CON
>tiluti0n. II means nation. Both
Christian minortic> in the kingdom
bear this name, nS also all distinct
groups in the Ottoman state. o.. The
Turkish Jews have that which the
Jews in many eastern European coun-
tries have been striving for since the
World War, namely, recognition ns IL
national minority aud the right TO oh
tain possible political, aud at least cul-
tural autonomy. "
Bur what have the Jews made Of
their rights; They have become
economically the poorest politically
the weakest. culturally the most back
ward Of all the Jews Of the world.
An explanation can be found only hy
taking into consideration the million In
which they We're compelled to live.
The Turks themselves were an uncul.
tured people who spread over the most
tlourishing countries Of the Orient. \
band of fire and war circled around
the Turkish empire and cut of every
cultural tie between the Moslem and
Christian worlds. , War remained
their Cthe Turks') only ideal. They
remained intellectually inactive through
Turkish Jcwry could not protect it.
self against this downfall The first
agency that hustencd to help was the
Alliance lsraelite UnivcrSelle. 1t spread
net Of schools over the Turkish cap
itnl and opened or assisted numerou,
others in the provinces. 1t could moi
reSurrcct the old Jewish culture but II
prepared the new generation for mod
Then came the IIilfsvcrcin from
| Germany, which. though possessed %
| fewer resources. still helped to furthe
the cultural work already begun. Bu
that was not all that oriental Jewrl
needed; it was more important I,
arouse ii 10 consciousness Of its owl
pOtentialitics .. No better begin
ming could be wished for than that af
| forded by the Young Turkish revolu
| tion. The sultans dcspotic power'
We're abolished National individuality
awokc." The Jews hoped that undeI
the new democracy they could mod
ernie and democratiZe their self-gov
ernment. Naturally it was no
the idea of the Jews to harm the en-
pire by improving their own privileges
But unfortunately this development
was hampcred from the start. The rul
| ing nation saw no good in it, onl!
dangers. e.. They (the Young Turkisl
leaders, formed the fantastic Utopii
Of Turkish state and people. Her,
no nationaltieS were to exist eXcep
the one nation to be known as tn,
Ottoman. Only the Turkish language
was to be heard. And single centra
power was to exist unhampered by
privileges or autonomieS. ..: The re
suits were catastrophe; repression
and masSacreS on the one hand, revOlu
tiOns, treason and descrtion, on the
other. g.. The Treaty Of Sevres.
seemed to give the MilletS a new start
... But these hopes, too, We're un
fulfilled