Istanbul police investigate suspicions of anti-Semitic murders

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 14 October 2003 | JPOST.COM STAFF

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Oct. 14, 2003
Istanbul police investigate suspicions of anti-Semitic murders
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Istanbul police are investigating suspicions of anti-Semitic murders, following the brutal murder of two Turkish Jews, bound and killed in an identical manner, within the past three weeks.

Muiz Konor, 32, an owner of a catering company, was murdered last Thursday. His bound and shot body was discovered in a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul. There were no signs of attempted robbery at the scene.

Three weeks earlier, the body of dentist Yosef Yehiyeh, 35-years-old and a father of two, was discovered in his clinic, bound and shot the same way.

Reports state that both victims were shot at close range and none of their personal belongings had been stolen.

Even though police has yet to established a connection between the two cases, their strong resemblance has sparked concern amongst members of the Jewish community in Turkey.

Turkey's Jewish community chair, Olina Filiva, said: "We are definitely worried – but by no means scared. We await the results of the investigation and hope the murderers will soon be caught."

Moshe Knafi, senior official of the Israeli embassy in Turkey, said the country's 22 thousand Jews are closely following the investigation. "Two similar murders have occurred in Istanbul but it's important to note that anti-Semitism doesn't exist in Turkey. The [Jewish] community is strongly connected to the Turkish government, and its leaders are extremely popular here. These murders are therefore very strange."

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Traditionally Turks have hated the Arabs. Turkey, despite being mainly an Islamic country, has strong diplomatic and military ties with Israel.

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[MarkDel]

Yes, the Turkish GOVERNMENT has had a good relationship with Israel, but the Turkish people are profoundly anti-Jewish. At this stage in history, Islamicism and anti-semitism are essentially inseparable.

[Coroner]

TopQuark (((((((Ping))))))

[a_Turk]

>> but the Turkish people are profoundly anti-Jewish.

You are basically full of sh!t..

[TopQuark]

Thanks for the ping, Coroner.

Mulsim Turks have had a fantastic relationship with Jewish Turk ever since they invited the Jews expelled from Spain by Isabella in 1482.

It is true that things are getting worse. In 1980s, for instance, a terrorist massacred about 15 people in Istanbul synagogue.

It is my understanding that most of this scum is foreign. I do not think that the Muslim Turks are hateful of Jews.

[Jacob Kell]

"In 1980s, for instance, a terrorist massacred about 15 people in Istanbul synagogue."

Those terrorists were Palestinian Arab trash. There are a few anti-Semites among Turks, just like everyone else. Every people has it's share of extremists and kooks. There are Turkish Islamists. They are the likeliest suspects, IMHO. Also weren't there the Grey Wolves, an Ultra-Nationalist group? Are they ANti-Semitic.

[MarkDel]

Sorry if you were offended. I should rephrase my statement to read, "The Turkish Muslims I have met in my personal life were profoundly anti-semitic."

If you are not one of the anti-semites, that's good to hear. My own personal experience has been quite different. Even a very intelligent, extremely well educated Turkish girl I dated a few years back confirmed it for me. Of course, in her "rationalization" she and her family did not hate all Jews...they just hated Israelis. She also told me that in Turkey, Jews were generally able to blend into society with few problems except among the lower classes, provided of course that they were TURKISH Jews and not Israelis. It was highly disconcerting to hear this beautiful, intelligent girl from a good family sound like a member of Hamas.

But I've never actually been to Turkey, nor do I have any desire to go there at this point, so my own knowledge of the country is based on the personal comments of about a dozen american turks who used to live there at one time or another, as well as the increasingly anti-american sentiment that I see and hear coming out of Turkey on television.

[a_Turk]

Now wait a minute pal.. You wrote this nugget I took issue with:

the Turkish people are profoundly anti-Jewish.

Changing that to read anti-semitic changes absolutely nothing, since it means exactly the same thing.

What you mean is that you ran into some Turks who took issue with Zionism. Well, judging from the number of UN resolutions the US had to veto condemning the actions of the govt. of Israel, I guess they are not the only ones.

Granted the building of states is usually expensive in human terms.. However, keep in mind that it was the Turks who actively saved Jewish lives in WW2 and gave Jews passage en masse to what was then called "Palestine" against British wishes.

Explaining that these two murders were a result of some general "Turkish Jew hate" was an unfortunate mistake on your part.