Jewish founders of Secular Turkey
Asia Observer
04 Ottobre 2009
Secular Republic of Turkey was Founded by Secret Jews
Subject: It’s time
to learn the truth about Jewish dictator Mustafa Kemal and the current
oppressive Secular (Kemalist) regime in Turkey. The secret Jews, called
Doenmeh, took over the power after the fall of Ottoman rule and they
brainwash the people of Turkey from that time on. The below article
clarifies many things.
Source: Kulanu quarterly newsletter, Summer 1999, Volume 6 Number 2
(Kulanu is an organization which reflects the community of interests
of individuals of varied backgrounds and religious practices dedicated
to finding and assisting lost and dispersed remnants of the Jewish
people)
The Turkish – Israeli Connection and Its Jewish Roots
By Joseph Hantman
One of the most significant developments in recent Middle East
affairs is the close relationship which now exists between Turkey and
Israel in military, political, economic and intelligence matters. This
change in the power structure is usually attributable to the old Arab
maxim “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Since both Turkey and
Israel count Syria and Iraq as their strongest threats, the close ties
between Turkey and Israel are quite logical.
However, there is good evidence
of a less widely known but absolutely fascinating story behind this
relationship. Turkey, which has a population almost exclusively Muslim,
has a government which by law is committed to being totally secular.
This goes back to modern Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), 1881-1938, leader of the Young Turk Movement which took over after World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Ataturk and his followers moved rapidly to end religious domination
and many religious practices in the daily life of the country. They
decreed a change from the Arabic alphabet to the Roman, and they
outlawed the fez and the veil. They opened schools to both boys and
girls, and their main goal was to Westernize Turkey and secularize its
practices. The Turkish army has been the main enforcement agent of this
secular policy in times of rising fundamentalism among some groups.
Some Background Data
In the 18th and early 19th century Salonika (now Thesalonika), under Turkish rule in Greece, was the unofficial capital of Sephardic Jewry. Of the three groups in the city, the Jews were larger than the combined Greek Orthodox and Muslim population.
The Jews dominated the commerce of the city and controlled the docks
of this major seaport. There were great synagogues and academies of
rabbinic study. Moslem shops closed on Friday, Greek Orthodox on
Sunday, and most shops and businesses were closed on Shabbat. Ladino,
the beautiful mix of Spanish and Hebrew, was the lingua franca of the
city and “Shabbat Shalom” was the universal Saturday greeting among
all. In the late 19th and early 20th century the city declined as a
result of conflict between Greek Orthodox and Moslems, and Jewish
dominance of the city decreased.
Fall of the Ottoman Empire
With the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the
decision at the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 to create an independent
Greek state, the decision was made to transfer populations. All Moslems
in Greece had to move to Turkey and all Orthodox Greeks in Turkey had
to move to Greece. In all, about 350,000 Moslems and one million Greeks
were involved in the move. Jews were permitted to remain wherever they
lived.
At this time a group of Moslems went to the authorities supervising the population shift and explained that they were not really Moslems but were in fact really Jews posing as Moslems.
The authorities would not entertain such a claim so the group then went
to the Chief Rabbi, Saul Amarillo, to verify their Jewish status. Rabbi
Amarillo states, “Yes, I know who you are. You are momzarim (very
loosely translated as bastards) and as such not acceptable in the
Jewish community.” These people were the Doenmeh,
the Turkish word for converts, and their existence had been known for
over 200 years. They were called momzarim because of the bizarre sexual
practices that were part of their religious rituals, which made it
impossible to trace parentage and lineage. The Doenmeh were forced to
leave Salonika for Turkey, which, considering the tragic fate of
Salonika’s Jews during the Holocaust 20 years later, undoubtedly saved
their lives.
Who Were the Doenmeh? (Dönme)
One of the best known names but least known historical figures in
Jewish history is Shabbtai Zvi, the “false messiah” (1626-1687). Born
in Smyrna, Turkey, of a Sephardic father and an Ashkenazi mother, he
was a brilliant child and Talmudic student, and an ordained rabbi in
his mid teens. He went on to study and became a master in Kabbalah and
other Jewish mysticism. His oratory was captivating and he soon
acquired a following. However, he exhibited odd characteristics,
including periods of illumination where he was believed to be
communicating with God and periods of darkness when he was wrestling
with evil. Soon he began to hint that he was the Messiah. This
blasphemy caused him to be expelled from a number of congregations. He
took up a pilgrim’s staff and with some followers roamed the Middle
East, gathering many to his messianic preaching, especially during his
periods of light. In Gaza he was welcomed by Rabbi Nathan, who had for
years been preaching that the arrival of the Messiah was imminent. This
combination led to a great outpouring of belief in Shabbtai Zvi as the
Messiah. Word spread throughout the Jewish world, from Poland,
Amsterdam, Germany, London, Persia, and Turkey to Yemen. Multitudes
joined his ranks – educated rabbis, illiterates, rich and poor alike
were swept up in the mass hysteria.
Among his inner core, they accepted his theory that all religious
restrictions were reversed. The forbidden was encouraged and the
commandments of the Torah were replaced by Shabbtai’s 18 (chai)
commandments. This led to feasting on fast days, sexual relations with
others than one’s spouse, and many more. The high point was in 1665-66,
when Shabbtai, with his followers, marched on the Sultan’s palace
expecting to be greeted as the Messiah. This of course did not happen.
To shorten this story, Shabbtai was given the choice “convert to Islam
or die.” To the consternation of his followers, he chose conversion.
Most of his followers return to their homelands where, after penitence
and sometimes flagellation, they were received into the congregations.
However, some hundreds of families of his inner circle considered his
apostasy as part of his overall plan of reaching the depth before
attaining redemption. They too converted to Islam, although for about
200 years they lived as Moslems but secretly passed on their secret quasi-Jewish Shabbatean beliefs and practices to their children.
They continued learning and praying in Hebrew and Ladino. As the
generations passed, the knowledge of Hebrew was reduced to reciting
certain prayers and expressions by memory in a barely understood
Hebrew. They were known in Turkish as Doenmeh, meaning “converts”; to
the Jews they were Minim, meaning “heretics.” They referred to
themselves as Ma’aminim, the “believers.” They were never really
accepted by the Turks nor by the Jews.
As we get into the middle and late 1800’s and education and
enlightened thinking spread through parts of the region, young Doenmeh
men who were dissatisfied with their status as “neither-nor” turned to secular nationalism to establish their identity. They neglected all forms of religious belonging and saw in the “Young Turk movement” their emancipation.
The Jewish Roots * * *
In 1911 in the Hotel Kamenetz in Jerusalem, Itamar Ben Avi, a
newspaperman and writer who was the son of Eleazer Ben Yehudah
(credited as the main proponent of the establishment of Modern Hebrew)
met with a young Turkish Army officer. After enjoying a good quantity
of Arak, the officer, Col.
Mustafa Kemal, turned to his drinking partner and recited the “Shema”
in fluent Hebrew and indicated that he came from a Doenmeh family.
They met again on a few occasions and Kemal filled in more of his
background. This man was of course to become General Kemal Ataturk,
founder of modern Turkey.
Remnants of Doenmeh still exist. There is an unidentifiable building
known as the Jewish Mosque where Doenmeh still meet. During World War
II, when Turkey was close to Germany, there were separate tax lists for
different religious categories, and the “D” list was for Doenmeh.
During his lifetime and continuing today, there have been whispered
rumors among Islamic activists that Kemal Ataturk and other Young Turks were of Jewish origin. Publicly, he denied this and his biographers avoided the issue.
However, there is little doubt that 300 years after the death of
Shabbtai Zvi, his influence and twists and turns of his Doenmeh
followers provided the activist secular basis which is one of the
underlying principles of modern Turkey – without which the
Turkish-Israeli connection would have been most unlikely.
To bring this story up to date and possibly complete the circle, we now learn that some
Doenmeh living in Turkey have made inquiry of American Jewish religious
organizations about the possible re-entry of Doenmeh into today’s
Jewish world.
Source > asiaobserver.com