Migration to Turkey
During the declining period of the Ottoman Empire, Muslims and Jews
of the Balkans and surrounding areas suffered from the interventions
and invasions of the Hapsburg Empire and Russia. The Christian Balkan
and Slavic countries put pressures on the Muslims and Jews and forced
them to leave. Both groups considered the Ottoman Empire and Tur-
key to be a safe haven. Muslim migrations to the Ottoman lands from
Crimea, the Caucasus, and the Balkans in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries continued. The best known cases are migrations of Circassians
from the Caucasus and Crimea to Turkey after the Crimean War, Turkish
migrations from Bulgaria during and after the Ottoman-Russian War of
1877–78, Bosniak migration from Bosnia after the Treaty of Berlin, and
Turkish migration from Macedonia during the Balkan Wars.
20
Sometimes with the Muslims, sometimes on their own, the Jews of
the above mentioned areas also migrated to the Ottoman Empire from
the Slavic and Balkan states. The Ottoman government was always
compassionate and receptive not only for the Muslims but also for the
Jews. The anti-Semitic measures of those under the leadership of Bogh-
dan Chmielnicki caused the Jews of Ukraine to be massacred, and they
therefore took shelter in Ottoman lands. The attitudes of the Ottoman
government toward Muslim and Jewish refugees from Crimea in mid-
nineteenth century were very positive without discrimination. After the
Crimean War of 1853–56, Muslims and non-Muslims of Crimea were
forced to leave the peninsula. They arrived in Ottoman lands, and the
sultan issued a firman and accepted all of them without any religious
discrimination. They were going to be settled in and around Dobrudja.
Since they had to leave all their property and lands in Crimea, they were
to receive free food, homes, agricultural equipment, and lands.
21
In a let-
ter to the governor of Silistre, the Ottoman government ordered no reli-
gious discrimination while assisting them.
22
The Jews of Kerch applied
to the Ottoman government to be settled in an appropriate place. The
Ottoman sultan allowed them to settle somewhere in the Balkans.
23
Since
they had different traditions, they were also allowed to live under their
own rabbis.
24
Except during the Crimean War, Jewish and Muslim migration to Tur-
key continued from Bulgaria during the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877–
78, from Eastern Roumelia during the Bulgarian annexation of Eastern
Sharing the Same Fate: Muslims and Jews of the Balkans · 57
Roumelia in 1885, and from Greece during the Ottoman-Greek War of
1897. Jews of Russia and Central Asia who came to the Ottoman Empire
because of Russian persecution should also be mentioned. Even though
it did not materialize, Abdul-Hamid II thought of a mass settlement of
Jewish refugees from Russia and other countries in Eastern Anatolia in
1893.
25
During the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, Greece occupied western Thrace
and Thessaloniki, where Jews and Muslims had been living for centuries.
Greek and Bulgarian soldiers destroyed the mosques and synagogues,
attacked Muslims and Jews, and killed many of them. Greek persecution
forced the Jews and Muslims to flee to Ottoman lands.
26
Some European
journals, such as the Times, Le Temps, and the Jewish Chronicle covered
the attacks on the Jews and Turks and Greek soldiers’ assistance to the
aggressors.
27
According to Tevfik Biyiklioğlu, during the Balkan Wars
and World War I, more than 200,000 Muslims migrated to Turkey from
Thrace, Macedonia, and Epir, which came under Greek rule. Many Turks
from western Thrace, which became Bulgarian, took refuge in Ottoman
lands.
28
Kosovo and Vardar Macedonia passed to Serbia after the Balkan
Wars. Muslims of these regions were forced to accept Christianity. Fol-
lowing the Turkish army’s return, the Turks and other Muslims of the
area began to migrate to the Ottoman territories. Turkish and Muslim
migrations to Turkey continued during the following years as well.
29
During the late nineteenth and early twentienth centuries, the num-
ber of Jewish communities in the Ottoman cities increased by about 50
percent because of migrations from the Balkan countries. For instance,
in Bursa there were 2,179 Jews in 1883, but their number increased to
3,500 around 1900. The Jewish population of Silivri was 1,200 in 1896
and reached 2,024 in 1907. The number of Jews in Istanbul was 40,000 in
1886 and reached 65,000 in 1904; in the same period, the number of Jews
increased from 20,000 to 35,000 in Izmir. The number of Jews in Thes-
saloniki was 30,000 in 1880, grew to 60,000 in 1900, and reached 90,000
in 1908.
30
The Jewish population of Edirne increased from 4,000–5,000 in
1870 to close to 20,000 in 1912.
31
The journal of Angele Gueron, the director of the Alliance Israélite
Universelle School for Girls in Edirne, reflects the feelings of an intellec-
tual Jewish woman who considered herself an Ottoman patriot during
the siege of Edirne during the Balkan Wars. This paragraph was written
when the Bulgarian army entered the city full of promises:
58 · Ömer Turan
This page in history approaches its end with ominous signs. The
Bulgarians will undoubtly give us beautiful cities and magnificent
edifices. They will give us a foretaste of Europe. But we Jews have
much to be thankful for to this Ottoman society that is so far from
progress—this is true—and yet, it is so humane. Who knows after
how many days of suffering we will lament the [ruling] hand of the
Turks that was so gentle towards the Jewish population.
32
Turkey was the safe haven for the Jews during World War II. Many Jew-
ish families left Germany and came to Turkey. Hundreds of Jewish schol-
ars also came to Turkey and worked in Turkish universities.
33
Between
1934 and 1944, about 37,000 European Jews also used Turkey as a transit
site to emigrate to Palestine.
34
Greece
The attacks on the Jews and Turks in Greece were not limited to the period
of Greek revolts. After the establishment of the Greek Kingdom in 1830,
the remaining Jews and Muslims were still targets for the Greeks. One of
the most interesting attacks on the Jews was the case of Pasifico in 1847.
During Easter, traditionally the Greeks in Athens stoned and burned an
effigy of Judas Iscariot, which was called “Jewish.” Before Easter, the
Greek government canceled the ceremony because an important British
figure of Jewish origin was to visit Athens. The Greeks were angered by
that decision, and they sacked and burned the house of the Portuguese
consul, Don Pacifico, a Jew born in Gibraltar and therefore a British citi-
zen. The British government asked for compensation for the Pacifico’s
losses several times. Finally, the British navy blockaded Piraeus, the port
of Athens, and the Greek government agreed to pay compensation.
35
In 1891, Jews and Muslims were attacked in the Ionian islands. Many
were killed, and the rest escaped to Ottoman territories. In 1897, Greeks
organized a revolt in Crete, and Muslims and Jews took refuge in Otto-
man lands. They were settled in Izmir.
36
The fate of the Muslims and Jews of Greece in the twentieth century
was no different than in the previous age. In the great fire of 1917, the
Muslim and Jewish quarters of Thessaloniki were burned. Only Greeks
from Anatolia were allowed to settle in the quarters.
37
The Greek army
occupied Anatolia after World War I, killed civilians, seized Turkish and
Sharing the Same Fate: Muslims and Jews of the Balkans · 59
Jewish properties, occupied their houses and shops, and burned their
quarters in western Anatolia. The occupation continued for three years.
After the War of Liberation, the Turks regained western Anatolia in Sep-
tember 1922. The exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey
was decided at the Lausanne Peace Conference in 1922–23. Muslims of
Greece and Greeks of Turkey were exchanged. The only exceptions were
Greeks of Istanbul and Muslims of western Thrace. Greeks of Turkey who
were exchanged were settled in the houses of Muslims who left Greece
in the exchange. Those Greeks accused the Jews of not supporting their
fight against the Turks. Registering in different election zones, the Greek
government prevented the cooperation of the Jews and Turks of west-
ern Thrace during elections. Several decisions were made in order to de-
stroy the Jews economically. Jewish schools were closed. Education in the
Greek language was made mandatory.
38
In 1936, the Venizelos government was dismissed and the bans on the
Jews were lightened. However, the beginning of World War II brought
heavier days for the Jews of Greece. Germany and her allies occupied
Greek lands. Bulgaria occupied western Thrace and eastern Macedonia.
More than 10,000 Jews were sent to death camps. Western and central
Greek lands—Lesvos, Chios, and Thessaloniki—were occupied by the
Italian troops. The situation of the Jews of those places was not as bad as
the others. However, in those places that fell under German occupation,
the Nazis and their Greek collaborators sent the Jews to Nazi camps in
September 1943. Approximately 56,000 Jews of Thessaloniki were sent to
camps. Jewish houses, shops, and synagogues were given to the Greeks.
Anti-Semitic regulations in Greece were not completely canceled until
after World War II. The number of Jews in Greece was 10,000 after World
War II and 6,000 in 2010. They are still under religious, educational, and
political pressure.
39
Both the Treaty of Athens, which was signed after the Balkan Wars,
and the Treaty of Lausanne, which was signed after the Turkish War of In-
dependence, mentioned the Muslims as a minority in Greece. However,
the Greek government did not recognize their Turkish identity. Cemiyet-i
Islamiye, their representative organization, had become inefficient.
40
The
Greek government involved itself in the religious life of the Muslims, did
not recognize its elected religious leaders (muftis), put their pious foun-
dations under government control, and forced the Turks to leave Greece.
Halit Eren points out that there are about 150,000 Turks in western Thrace,
60 · Ömer Turan
and if there had not been such heavy oppression, the population of the
Turks in western Thrace might have been about 600,000.
41
Serbia
During the Serbian rebellion, most of the Muslims and Jews who were
living in and around Belgrade were killed or forced to leave their homes.
The remaining Jews faced heavy pressure from the Serbians after its au-
tonomy. After Prince Milos Obrenovic was deposed, in 1839, anti-Jew-
ish laws and practices followed. Jews were forced to close their shops
on Sundays and national holidays. They were accused of murdering
a Christian in Smederevo, like the Damascus blood libel of 1840. They
were stripped of all civil rights. They were obliged to live in only certain
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