The State and Fate of Jews in the Ottoman Empire and the Early Republic: A Necessary Part of the Conversation.

Much continues to be made internationally and by Turkey herself and her leadership (and Jews as well) of Turkey's seemingly important role in saving Jews on two historic occasions: (1) the Spanish Inquisition, when (some) Jews fled Christian-controlled Spain and Portugal in the 15th century; and (2) the Holocaust/Shoah, when (some) Jewsfled Nazi Europe in the middle of the 20th century. Additionally, up until the present moment, Turkey positioned itself as the "broker" between the Arab East and the European-American West as regards the State of Israel and its (Turkey's) own desire to become part of the European Union (EU). 1-hefirst and second events have, increasingly, however, come under critical scholarly review, both positively and negatively. Furthermore, the increasing Islamicization Of Turkey under its current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (b. 1954) has carried with it an increasingly hostile, and, at times, overtly antisemitic discourse as regards Israel and Zionism andlews and Judaism, and, with it, an increasing sense of vulnerability on the part of Turkey's relatively small present-day Jewish population. (In this context, one also notes that Turkey continues to put pressure upon both Israel and American Jewry not to support any recognition whatsoever of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Genocides.) However, to complete the historical picture, especially during the years surrounding World War I (1914-1917), it is important to remember that not only Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks were regarded as dhimmis (non-Muslim subjects of an Islamic state-despite the seeming secularism of the Republic of Turkey), but Jews as well, and all were subject to the jizya (a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim subjects, who met certain criteria, e.g. able-bodied adult males of military age). Ihis contribution, therefore, is a preliminary exploration of the tenuous and vulnerable relationship the Jews of Turkey held not only with regard to the government and the larger society, but with other minorities as well (specifically the Armenian and the Greek populations), their (Jewish) participation as soldiers in the First World War, and the reality of Jewish life in Turkey today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]