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www.merinews.com “THE IDEA that contemporary Anti-Semitism by Muslims is authentically Islamic ‘touches on some truths, yet it misses many others’. Anti-Semitism is due only partially to Israeli policies, about which Muslims may have a deep sense of injustice and loss. But the primary causes of Muslim Anti-Semitism to modern European ideologies, which have infected the Muslim world.” Thus speaks the renowned scholar Martin Kramer, an authority on contemporary Islam and Arab politics. He had earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University. During a twenty-five-year career at Tel Aviv University, he has directed the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Brandeis University, the University of Chicago, Cornell University, and Georgetown University; and served twice as a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. A study was conducted to discover the interaction of the ethnic character of Izmir, an ancient Turkish town, with a hue of culture that Sephardic Jews had brought with them from Spain. And here are some condensed excerpts of that study “The interactions of the Sephardic synagogues in Izmir with the ethnic character of the city.” Authors-Mine Tanac. Izmir was an important trade centre among the Western Anatolia ports. The Romaniotes, the original Jewish population of Anatolia were living in Izmir since antiquity. This city has a distinct Jewish flavour in its culture. Izmir is a flourishing industrial city of modern Turkey today which is more famous for its sun-dried grapes - raisins. Jews and Muslims are at daggers drawn today but there was a time when the Muslims were their greatest protectors. They had been prosecuted in the civilised West and sought refuge in the Islamic Turkey. These Jews were talented people whose aesthetic import encompassed the architectural-art which left an everlasting impact. The vestiges of these interactions reflected in especially in the synagogue buildings. The Sephardic Jews settled down on this territory during 16th century. During the Byzantine and early Ottoman periods, the Jewish presence in this territory continued. However, very little information is available about the community’s life and architecture except the most significant ancient synagogue ruins that have been found in Sardis. The year 1492 under reign of the enlightened ruler Sultan Bayezid II whose dream it was to make his empire an ‘umbrella of humanity’ 150,000 Sephardim Jews escaped death or conversion under the Edict of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. The annihilation from Spain marked an important revival of Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire. Many of Spain’s expelled Sephardic Jews, and later Portuguese Jews, found refuge in the cities like Salonika, Istanbul, and especially Izmir of the Ottoman Empire.2. Jewish community had always played a very important role in shaping this part of landscape. Muslims and Jews were best friends. It all changed with Zionist success in manipulation and usurping the Palestinian lands in the name of Judah and Samaria legends. Most of the Jews migrated from Turkey to settle in the new Jewish country Israel during 1950’s. Today, the story has a different tint and that is how history is made. But, it is sad!
