Recalling a Forgotten Community: Jews of Diyarbakır

Year 2020, Volume: 26 Issue: 103, 545 - 558, 01.08.2020

Süleyman Şanlı

https://doi.org/10.22559/folklor.851

Abstract

The presence of Jews in Mesopotamia and Anatolia can be traced since ancient times. By the time, during the Ottoman reign Jews were dispersed to different parts of the state but especially concentrated in western regions such as Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa and Edirne. However, there were also Jewish communities lived in the eastern part of the Ottoman State and todays Turkey. There were also considerable Jewish communities who lived in the eastern part of the country in provinces such as Gaziantep, Urfa, Siverek, Diyarbakir, Çermik, Mardin, Nusaybin, Cizre, Başkale and Van. In this research eastern Jews is referred to Eastern part of first Ottoman later Turkey. This study aims to explore some cultural traits including religious, social and economical traits of the Jews, who once lived in the east and later immigrated to Israel

Jews of Diyarbakır are one of those religious minority groups that have a long historical background in the city. The presence of Jews in Diyarbakır dated back centuries. Historians or researchers those interested in Jews of Turkey usually studied Jews of Istanbul, Jews of İzmir and Jews who live in different parts of the western cities. Lack of researches and scarcity of resources makes the Jews of Diyarbakır as one of the significant Jewish communities among the Eastern Jews that need to be taken into account. In this article it is aimed to explore migration process, religious, social and cultural conditions of a small religious group, who once lived in the east of Turkey and later moved to Israel. It is expected to introduce their way of life, their beliefs, and their relationships with other local groups and culture in a multicultural and multi-religious environment of the city of Diyarbakır. Additionally, majority of data for this article collected through in-depth interviews that based on an anthropological fieldwork conducted in Israel. Therefore, information given by informants is the most important distinguishing feature of this study. It is expected to reveal this forgotten religious minority group more visible.

Keywords

jews, Diyarbakir, multicultural, migration

Recalling a Forgotten Community: Jews of Diyarbakır

Abstract

The presence of Jews in Mesopotamia and Anatolia can be traced since ancient times. By the
time, during the Ottoman reign Jews were dispersed to different parts of the state but especially
concentrated in western regions such as Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, and Edirne. However, there were
also Jewish communities lived in the eastern part of the Ottoman State and today’s Turkey.
There were also considerable Jewish communities who lived in the eastern part of the country
in provinces such as Gaziantep, Urfa, Siverek, Diyarbakir, Çermik, Mardin, Nusaybin, Cizre,
Başkale, and Van. In this research eastern Jews are referred to the Eastern part of the first
Ottoman later Turkey. This study aims to explore some cultural traits including religious, social
and economical traits of the Jews, who once lived in the east and later immigrated to Israel
Jews of Diyarbakır are one of those religious minority groups that have a long historical
background in the city. The presence of Jews in Diyarbakır dated back centuries. Historians or
researchers those interested in Jews of Turkey usually studied Jews of Istanbul, Jews of İzmir,
and Jews who live in different parts of the western cities. Lack of researches and scarcity of
resources makes the Jews of Diyarbakır as one of the significant Jewish communities among the
Eastern Jews that need to be taken into account. In this article, it is aimed to explore the
migration process, religious, social, and cultural conditions of a small religious group, who once
lived in the east of Turkey and later moved to Israel. It is expected to introduce their way of life,
their beliefs, and their relationships with other local groups and culture in a multicultural and
multi-religious environment of the city of Diyarbakır. Additionally, the majority of data for this
article collected through in-depth interviews that based on anthropological fieldwork conducted
in Israel. Therefore, the information given by informants is the most important distinguishing
feature of this study. It is expected to reveal this forgotten religious minority group more
visible.

Keywords

jews, Diyarbakir, migration, multicultural

References

• Arslan, R. (1990) Diyarbakır Kentinin tarihi ve bugünkü konumu. in Ş. Beysanoğlu, M. Koz, & E. N. İsli, Diyarbakır: Müze Şehir (pp. 80-108). İstanbul: Yapı Kredi.
• Avram, G. (1961) Histoire des Juifs d’Anatolie. v.4, İsis, İstanbul.
• Bali, R. (1999) Diyarbakır Yahudileri. in Ş. Beysanoğlu, M. Koz, & Diğerleri, Diyarbakır: Müze Şehir (pp. 367-389). İstanbul: Yapı Kredi.
• Ben-Ya'kov, A. (1981) Kehil'ot Yehude Kurdistan (Jewish Communities of Kurdistan). Jerusalem: Kiryat Sefer Publishing.
• Buckingham, J. S. (1827) Travels in Mesopotamia. London: D.S Maurice.
• Çayır, C., Yıldız, M., & diğerleri. (2007) Kaybolmaya yüz tutan bir Anadolu dini topluluğu: Şemsiler/Harraniler. in İ. Özcoşar, Makalelerle Mardin (Vol. IV, pp. 161-177). İstanbul: Mardin İhtisas Kütüphanesi.
• Cem, B. (1996) Osmanlı Iimparatorluğu’nun ve Türkiye’nin nüfusu 1500-1927, Ankara:T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet İstatistik Enstitüsü Tarihi İstatistikler Dizisi,
• Saad, L. (1913) Sechzehn Jahre als Quarantaenarzt in der Turkei, Berlin as cited in İlhan Pınar “Gezginlerin Gözüyle Diyarbakır 1701-1924, in Şevket Beysanoğlu, M. Sabri Koz ve diğerleri, 1999 Diyarbakır: Müze Şehir, İstanbul: Yapı Kredi.
• Epstein, M. A. (1980) The Ottoman Jewish communities and their role in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Freiburg: Klaus Scwarz Verlag.
• Göyünç, N. (1994) Diyarbakır. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi, 9, 464- 465.
• Southgate, H. (1840) Narrative of a tour through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia and Mesopotamia, New York: D.Appleton& Co., volume II, p.299.

• McCarthy, J. (1994). Jewish population in the late Ottoman Period in the Jews of the Ottoman empire, USA: Princeton, p. 375-399.
• Karpat, K. (1985) The Ottoman population 1830-1914, Demographic and social characteristics, Madison:University of Wisconsin Press.
• Köker, O. (1995) Hasbelkader Diyarbakırda ve ermeni olarak doğmak. Diyarbakır: Söz.
• Peirce, P. (2003) Morality tales: Law and gender in Ottoman court of Aintab, California:University of California Press. Lipman, V.D. (2007) “Sir Moses Montefiore”. Encyclopaedia Judaica, ed. Fred Skolnik, USA: Thomson and Gale, p.457.
• Margosyan, M. (1994) Gavur mahallesi. İstanbul: Aras.
• Margosyan, M. (1995) Söyle Margos nerelisen. İstanbul: Aras.
• Pınar, İ. (1999) Gezginlerin gözüyle Diyarbakır 1701-1924. In Ş. Beysanoğlu, & diğerleri, Diyarbakır: Müze Şehir (p. 150). İstanbul: Yapı Kredi.
• Rodrigue, A. (2003) Jews and Muslims: Images of Sephardi and Eastern Jewries in modern times. Uniteds States of America: University of Washington Press.
• Şimşek, M. (2013) Süryanilerin Diyarbakırdaki mekânları. In Y. K. Haspolat, Tarih kültür ve i̇nanç kenti Diyarbakır (pp. 47-59). İstanbul: Uzman Matbaacılık.
• Güran, T. (1997) Osmanlı Devleti’nin i̇lk i̇statistik yıllığı 1897, Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet İstatistik Enstitüsü Tarihi İstatistikler Dizisi.