Turkish Jews and their Diasporas

“Laying bare the twin myths of Ottoman tolerance and Turkish-Jewish friendship upon which so much of Turkish-Jewish history writing was founded, this volume demonstrates how a dwindling Jewish community and growing antisemitism in Turkey are now unraveling these myths before our very eyes. Full of sobering and incisive reflections on Ottoman and Turkish Jewish lives past and present, this book has much to offer not only to specialists but also to anyone interested in the processes of minoritization, displacement and diaspora in the modern era.”   

—Julia Phillips Cohen, Vanderbilt University, USA

“An engaging and erudite exploration of identity politics in the late Ottoman era and modern Turkey. The story of Turkish Jews and their diaspora reflects the twists and turns, paradoxes, entanglements, and struggles shaping the country from the late 19th century till our day. The authors behind this volume have done a tremendous service to all scholars of modern Turkey.”

—Dimitar Bechev, University of Oxford, UK
This book introduces the reader to the past and present of Jewish life in Turkey and to Turkish Jewish diaspora communities in Israel, Europe, Latin America and the United States. It surveys the history of Jews in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic, examining the survival of Jewish communities during the dissolution of the empire and their emigration to America, Europe, and Israel. In the cases discussed, members of these communities often sought and seek close connections with Turkey, even if those ‘ties that bind’ are rarely reciprocated by Turkish governments. Contributors also explore Turkish Jewishness today, as it is lived in Israel and Turkey, and as found in ‘places of memory’ in many cities in Turkey, where Jews no longer exist today.
Kerem Halil Latif Öktem is Associate Professor of International Relations at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. He previously held the Chair for Southeast European Studies and Modern Turkey at the University of Graz, Austria, and was Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK.  

İpek Kocaömer Yosmaoğlu is Associate Professor of History and Director of Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program at Northwestern University, USA. She previously taught at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and was a Mellon Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA.