Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks: Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide (Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies) Paperback – March 10, 2020

As more recognize that Turkey committed genocide against the Armenian people, the question arises what is the relationship between Turkey and the Jews. The standard answer from Turkish Jews has been that Turkey could never engage in genocide because Turkey and the Ottoman Empire always protected the Jews. While this answer is a non sequitur, the factual assertion in the statement is not true. While the Jewish people will always be grateful to the Ottoman Empire for allowing Spanish Jews a haven when they were thrown out of Spain, Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire was not always peaceful. More significantly, Jewish life under the Turkish nation has seen progroms, a severe confiscatory tax aimed at Jews and Christians, and concentration camps for those who did not fully pay the tax. Further, while Turkey claims it protected the Turkish Jews in Nazi occupied Europe through its diplomats, the claims of particular rescues are weak and there is abundant evidence that while Turkey could have taken significant actions to protect its expatriates, It chose not to. Turkey which previously claimed to be a secular state, never was a secular state. To be Turkish is to be Moslem. The current Turkish regime simply is explicit about its religious basis. Sultanic Saviors presents history that was long ignored. Turkish Jews are in a difficult position. To acknowledge this history puts them in a dangerous position with the Turkish regime. Still some Jews, Turkish and non-Turkish, are speaking out.