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The anti-Jewish pogrom in Eastern Thrace in 1934: new evidence for the responsibility of the Turkish government

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 40; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00313220600634238

1461-7331

Hatiice Bayraktar,

Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics

ABSTRACT In the summer of 1934 Eastern Thrace was shaken by a wave of antisemitic violence that ended as suddenly as it had begun. The reasons underlying this attack on the Jewish minority are still not well understood, mainly due to the lack of definitive Turkish sources. New evidence indicates that İbrahim Tali, the representative of the Turkish government in Thrace and the district of Çanakkale further south, played a crucial role. The incidents should be understood in light of Turkish–Italian tensions in the spring of 1934, and the strategic need for re-arming the demilitarized zones in Thrace and at the Straits. Keywords: antisemitismDardanellesEastern ThraceIbrahim Tali Öngörennon-Muslim minoritiespogromsStraitsTurkeyTurkish–Jewish relationsTurkish Thrace Notes 1See, for example, Ayhan Aktar, 'Trakya Yahudi Olaylarını "Doğru" Yorumlamak', Tarih ve Toplum, no. 155, November 1996, 45–56; Haluk Karabatak, 'Türkiye Azınlık Tarihine Bir Katkı: 1934 Trakya Olayları ve Yahudiler', Tarih ve Toplum, no. 146, February 1996, 68–80; and Zafer Toprak, '1934 Trakya Olaylarında Hükümetin ve CHF'nin Sorumluluğu', Toplumsal Tarih, no. 34, October 1996, 19–25. 2Aktar, 'Trakya Yahudi Olaylarını "Doğru" Yorumlamak'. 3The statement was printed in many Turkish newspapers. See, for example, 'Heyeti Veile dün Gazi Hz.nin riyasetinde toplandı', Cumhuriyet, 15 July 1934 and 'Trakyada Yahudi Meselesi', Son Posta, 15 July 1934. 4'Terrible reports of maltreatment of Jews in Turkey', JTA Daily Bulletin, 10 July 1934. 5Here, 'Thrace' and 'Thracian' refer to the whole province (Trakya) and not only to Eastern Thrace, i.e. not only to European Turkey. 6'Trakya Yahudileri. Tazyik iddiaları ve Başvekilin beyanatı', Cumhuriyet, 6 July 1934 and 'Başvekil Hazretlerin Tebliği', Milliyet, 6 July 1934. 7'Heyeti Veile dün Gazi Hz.nin riyasetinde toplandı'; 'Trakyada Yahudi Meselesi'. 8 Milli İnkilap was edited in Istanbul by the notorious antisemite Cevat Rıfat Atilhan, and Orhun in Edirne by the racist and pan-Turkist Hüseyin Nihal Atsız. Both journals appeared only once or twice a month. For Atilhan and Atsız, see Rıfat N. Bali, Les Relations entre Turcs et Juifs dans la Turquie moderne (Istanbul: Isis Press 2001) and Umut Uzer, 'Racism in Turkey: the case of Huseyin Nihal Atsiz', Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, vol. 22, no. 1, 2002, 119–30. For Milli İnkilap, see Hatice Bayraktar, 'Türkische Karikaturen über Juden (1933–1945)', Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung, vol. 13, 2004, 85–108; and, for Orhun, see Jakob M. Landau, Pan-Turkism. From Irredentism to Cooperation, 2nd edn (London: Hurst & Company 1995), 88. 9Erol Haker makes several of these eyewitness reports available; see Erol Haker, The Story of the Adato Family (Istanbul: Isis Press 2004), 227–45. Rıfat N. Bali also refers to the memories of a Turkish eyewitness in Kırklareli; see Rıfat N. Bali, Cumhuriyet Yıllarında Türkiye Yahudileri Bir Türkleştirme Serüveni (1923–1945), 2nd edn (Istanbul: İletisim Yayınları 2000), 247–49. 10This follows from the article 'İbrahim Tali Bey izahat veriyor', Cumhuriyet, 15 July 1934. 11Ibid. 12'Turkey', Jewish Chronicle, 10 August 1934. 13'Turkey', Jewish Chronicle, 19 October 1934. 14Official censuses were carried out in 1927 and 1935. In 1927 Jews accounted for 1.81 per cent (10,402 individuals) of the total population of the province of Thrace, and were the province's largest minority; by 1935 their number had dropped to 0.97 per cent (7,555 individuals). These calculations are based on the official figures; see Başvekâlet İstatistik Umum Müdürlüğü, İstatistik Yıllığı, vol. 6 (Ankara: Başvekâlet İstatistik Umum Müdürlüğü 1932–3), 80–3 and Başvekâlet İstatistik Genel Direktörlüğü Trakya Umum Müfettişliği İstatistik Bürosu, Trakya İstatistik Yıllığı, vol. 1, no. 116 (Ankara: Başvekâlet İstatistik Genel Direktörlüğü Trakya Umum Müfettişliği İstatistik Bürosu 1938), 35–7. Using the figure of 13,000 Jews, cited by İnonü on 14 July 1934, the decrease in numbers between 1934 and 1935 amounted to about 42 per cent. This fall in numbers continued. According to the Census of 1965, the last one in which religion was recorded, only 557 Jews remained in the region; see Walter F. Weiker, Ottomans, Turks and the Jewish Polity. A History of the Jews of Turkey (Lanham, MD: University Press of America 1992), 265. 15Avram Galanté mentioned the pogrom in 1939 but restricted himself to a translation of the official statements; see Avram Galanté, Histoire des Juifs de Turquie [1939], 4 vols (Istanbul: Isis Press 1985), iv.217–21. The next study to address the events of 1934 was published in 1984 in Hebrew by Avner Levi; see Avner Levi, 'A peraot be yehudey Trakya, 1934', Pe'amim, no. 20, 1984, 110–32. 16See Stanford J. Shaw, Turkey and the Holocaust: Turkey's Role in Rescuing Turkish and European Jewry from Nazi Persecution, 1933–1945 (New York: New York University Press 1993), 14–20 and Henri Nahum, Juifs de Smyrne. XIXe–XXe siècle (Paris: Aubier 1997), 205. 17Weiker, Ottomans, Turks and the Jewish Polity, 246–7. 18Avner Levi, '1934 Trakya Yahudileri Olayı Alınamayan Ders', Tarih ve Toplum, no. 151, July 1996, 10–17. 19Ibid. 20Karabatak, 'Türkiye Azınlık Tarihine Bir Katkı'. For recent publications on Turkish nationalism in the 1930s, see, for example, Soner Cagaptay, 'Race, assimilation and Kemalism: Turkish nationalism and the minorities in the 1930s', Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, 2004, 86–101, and Mesut Yeğen, 'Citizenship and ethnicity in Turkey', Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 40, no. 6, 2004, 51–66. 21Law No. 2510, T.C. Resmi Gazete, no. 2733, 21 June 1934, 4003–9. 22Such a map has never been published, and the British embassy in Ankara in October 1934 noted its lack. See the letter from Morgan (Constantinople) to Sir John Simon (Foreign Office, London), 13 October 1934, reproduced in Bülent Gökay (ed.), Turkey, December 1932–November 1935, Series B, Part II, vol. 33 of British Documents on Foreign Affairs (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America 1997), 148–52 (document E6434/5161/44). 23However, it is very likely that Jews were to be understood as being only loosely attached to Turkish culture; in 1927 over 80 per cent of them declared Judaeo-Spanish to be their mother tongue and could speak Turkish only with a strong accent. See Mahir Şaul, 'The mother tongue of the polyglot: cosmopolitism and nationalism among the Sephardim of Istanbul', in Mehmet Tütüncü (ed.), Turkish–Jewish Encounters (Haarlem: Stichting SOTA 2001). 24Başvekâlet İstatistik Umum Müdürlüğü, İstatistik Yıllığı. 25Karabatak, 'Türkiye Azınlık Tarihine Bir Katkı'. 26Toprak, '1934 Trakya Olaylarında Hükümetin ve CHF'nin Sorumluluğu'. 27Quoted in ibid. The original Turkish reads: 'Nihayet meselenin telkin, hazırlık ve tatbik devirlerinde Fırka Kâtibiumumiliğine haber vermek vazifesi ne için yapılmadı?' All translations from the Turkish, unless otherwise stated, are by the author. 28Aktar, 'Trakya Yahudi Olaylarını "Doğru" Yorumlamak'. 29Ibid. 30Rıfat N. Bali, 'Yeni Bilgiler ve 1934 Trakya Olayları–II', Tarih ve Toplum, no. 187, 1999, 42–8. Bali assumed that either economic or military concerns were the underlying cause of the pogrom. 31Aktar, 'Trakya Yahudi Olaylarını "Doğru" Yorumlamak'. 32Levi, '1934 Trakya Yahudileri Olayı Alınamayan Ders'. 33Reports in the Turkish newspapers do not make clear whether şükrü Kaya presented a written or an oral report, although it is well documented that he reported to the cabinet council on 12 July 1934. No documents or protocols about this meeting were uncovered in 2004 when I conducted research in the National Archive in Ankara. 34This is well documented in Turkish newspapers; see, for example, 'şükrü Kaya Bey Yahudi hicretini tahkik için Trakyaya gitti', Milliyet, 7 July 1934. 35Governmental decree: T. C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri, Cumhuriyet Arşivı, Ankara (Turkish National Archive, hereafter TCBA), Başbakanlık Karal Kurul Kataloğu, document 030.18.01.02.43.15.7. 36'Inspector General appointed in Thrace', New York Times, 22 July 1934. 37Letter from Kral (Austrian Embassy) to Federal Chancellor Seipel, 20 January 1928: Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Vienna, Archiv der Republik (hereafter ÖStA, AdR), Neues Politisches Archiv (NPA) 781, Liasse Türkei 2/3 1926–1929 fol. 1–112, Z1.5/Pol. A British diplomat described Tali's function as Inspector-General in the eastern provinces 'as a sort of viceroy over the south-eastern part of Turkey, with the nine Valis [provincial governors], the military forces, and an extra strength of gendarmerie under his orders'; see W. S. Edmonds, 'Notes on a Tour to Diarbekir, Bitlis and Mush', May 1930, reproduced in Bülent Gökay (ed.), Turkey, January 1930–December 1932, Series B, Part II, vol. 32 of British Documents on Foreign Affairs (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America 1997), 28–38 (attachment to E2678/1279/44). At that time Turkification was a very important feature of Tali's policy. 38Letter from Kral to Federal Chancellor Seipel, 20 January 1928. 39Vahakn N. Dadrian, 'The role of Turkish physicians in the World War I genocide of Ottoman Armenians', Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, 1986, 169–92 (n44). In the 1920s Tali temporarily held the post of leader of the CHF in Istanbul and was also a member of the Turkish National Assembly; see letter from Kral to Federal Chancellor Seipel, 20 January 1928. Tali was acquainted with Atatürk personally from 1916 or 1917; see Edmonds, 'Notes on a Tour to Diarbekir, Bitlis and Mush'. According to Atatürk a(nother) personal meeting took place in 1919; see Gazi Mustafa Kemal, Nutuk (Istanbul: Devlet Matbaası 1934), 29. 40'Inspector General appointed in Thrace'. 41Route map attached to report from Tali (see note 43): TCBA, CHP catalog, document 490.01.643.30.1. 42British Embassy, Annual Report for Turkey 1934, §232, reproduced in Gökay (ed.), Turkey, December 1932–November 1935, 165–210 (document E854/854/44). 43Tali's report, Edirne, 16 June 1934, sent to CHF General-Secretary Recep Peker, 10 July 1934: TCBA, CHP catalog, document 490.01.643.30.1 (hereafter TR, for 'Tali Report'). The report is labelled 'Trakya Umumî Müfettişliği' (General Inspectorate of Thrace), the place of writing is noted as 'Edirne' and, on the last page, there is the typed signature 'Trakya Umumî Müfettişi' (Inspector-General of Thrace). In the covering letter Tali declares himself to be author of the report. 44TR, 10, §3. 45TR, 9, §5, and TR 10, §2. 46TR, 16, §3. 47'Turkish Jews in Thrace. Expulsion at short notice', The Times (London), 5 July 1934, and 'Turks expel Jews. Dardanelles region clearance', Daily Telegraph (London), 29 June 1934. 48The Turkish original reads: 'Trakya (Yahudi) si göze batacak kadar ahlâkî fesat ve karaktersizlik içindedir. Muzurdur. Son asırda diger muhtelif kanlarla mütemadî ihtilât neticesinde zahirî bir ıstıfaya uğrayarak yahudiliğin bünyevî esas karakterini tamamen denecek derecede kaybetmesine rağmen (Yahudi) liğin yılışık, hilekâr, zamirini gizler, kuvveti daima alkışlar, altına tapar, Yurt sevgisini koğar karakterini olduğu gibi muhafaza etmiş ve hatta bu sahada beşeriyete ıstırap verecek kadar zararlı bir şekilde yeni inkişaflara da mazhar olmuştur' (TR, 14, §4). Subsequently, Tali explained that in Thrace Jews had taken advantage of the last war to enrich themselves and to increase their power by buying Turkish properties at prices far below their value. In this paragraph he did not refer at all to the attitudes of the Muslim inhabitants of Thrace, and therefore must have been expressing mainly his own. 49TR, 10, §4. 50TR, 24, §4. 51TR, 24, §3. 55TR, 19, §6 (see Figure 2 for this page). The original text reads: 'Trakyada Türk hayatı, Türk iktisadîyatı, Türk emniyeti, Türk rejim ve inkilâbı için muhakkak gizli bir tehlike halinde yaşayan ve işçi kulüpleriyle memlekette komünizmin çekirdeğini kurmak isteyen (Yahudi) meselesini artık en cezrî bir surette halletmek Türk Trakyaya nefes vermek için katî bir zarurettir.' 52TR, 19, §3. 53TR, 19, §4. 54The original reads: 'Trakya Türkünü canlandırmak ve iktisadı kalkınmaya mazhar kılmak için iktisadi sahade yapılacak ilk teşebbüsün Trakyanın kazanç ve hayat kaynaklarını sağlam tedbirlerle öz Türk çocuklarına intikal ettirmek ve bütün Trakya piyaselerini musevi hakimiyetindenkurtarmaktır' (TR, 74, §2). 56Equally explicit was, for example: 'It is urgently required that a careful solution is found to the Jewish problem, which only puts the Turks in harm's way in all areas of life in Thrace.' The original text reads: 'Hulâsa: Trakyada hayatın her safhasında Türküğün zararına yaşayan (Yahudi) meselesi üzerinde çok esaslı bir surette durmak lâzımdır' (TR, 20, §2). 57Letter from the Greek Ambassador Sakellaropoulos (Neohorion, Bosphorus) to the Foreign Ministry, 12 July 1934, reproduced in Photini Constantopoulou and Thanos Veremis (eds), Documents on the History of the Greek Jews: Records from the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Athens: Kastaniotis 1998), 242–4. 58Ibid. See also the letter from Kroll (German Embassy, Ankara) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 February 1938: Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amt, Berlin (hereafter PAAA), R104799, A240/38. 59Report by the Greek consul in Edirne, 3 July 1934, reproduced in Constantopoulou and Veremis (eds), Documents on the History of the Greek Jews, 239–40. 60British Embassy, Annual Report for 1931, §184, reproduced in Gökay (ed.), Turkey, January 1930–December 1932, 228–62 (document (E223/223/44). For the People's Houses, see, for example, Sefa Simsek, '"People's Houses" as nationwide project for ideological mobilization in early republican Turkey', Turkish Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, 2005, 71–91. 61Toprak, '1934 Trakya Olaylarında Hükümetin ve CHF'nin Sorumluluğu'. 62The covering letter to Tali's report was addressed to CHF General-Secretary Recep Peker and dated Edirne, 10 July 1934. It is archived with the report (see Figure 3). 63Tali himself stated in an interview in Edirne (published as 'Yahudi Hicreti', Haber-Akşam, Saturday, 14 July 1934) that he brought his 'findings from the visit to Thrace' the week before (i.e. the week from Monday, 2 July to Sunday, 8 July) to Ankara where he passed it to the interior ministry. This report must a) have been received by the ministry by 6 July at the latest, and b) have been identical with his report written on 15 June, because, from 6 July until at least 8 July, Tali travelled to and through Thrace together with şükrü Kaya; see 'şükrü Kaya Bey Yahudi hicretini tahkik için Trakyaya gitti', and 'Sükrü Kaya Bey Trakyadaki tetkiklerine devam ediyor', Milliyet, 9 July 1934. On 5 and 6 July İnonü's first press release concerning the incidents was distributed by the Turkish newspapers. From then on, the officials who had received Tali's report could hardly have failed to realize how important the document was, and should, rather, have done everything to make sure that it reached Şükrü Kaya or İnonü as soon as possible! 64'Şükrü Kaya Bey Yahudi hicretini tahkik için Trakyaya gitti'. 65Şükrü Kaya declared on 6 July that the Turkish constitution discerned no differences between Turkish citizens. Persons who were responsible for anti-Jewish propaganda were to be brought back on to the 'right track' with the help of the Turkish law; see 'Şükrü Kaya Bey Yahudi hicretini tahkik için Trakyaya gitti', or 'Dahiliye Vekili tahkikat için Trakyaya gitti', Cumhuriyet, 7 July 1934. See also İnonü's statements described above. 66Letter from Toenken to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 15 January 1936: PAAA, Athen 31, KC12/36. 67Aktar, 'Trakya Yahudi Olaylarını "Doğru" Yorumlamak'. The increasing Turkish fear of an Italian attack was well documented by foreign diplomats; see, for example, British Embassy, Annual Report for Turkey 1934, §104. In May 1934 Atatürk openly declared that the main goal of Turkish defence was to ward off Italian attacks; see letter to Chancellor Dollfuss, Ankara, 4 May 1934: ÖStA, AdR, Archives of the Embassies (ÖVB)/Ankara, Embassy Ankara 4, folder 'Pol.-1936/37/38, Türkei-Italien 1933–38', letter 45/Pol. For details of the Italian–Turkish relationship and Turkish foreign policy in the 1930s, see, for example, Dilek Barlas, 'Turkish diplomacy in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. Opportunities and limits for middle-power activism in the 1930s', Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 40, no. 3, 2005, 441–64. 68British Embassy, Annual Report for Turkey 1934, §224. 69Atatürk inspected the Turkish west coast and Balıkesir in the spring of 1934; see the letter to Chancellor Dollfuss, Ankara, 5 May 1934: ÖStA, AdR, ÖVB/Ankara, Embassy Ankara 4, folder 'Türkei-Italien. Pol.-1936/37/38', letter 45/Pol. He also had plans to inspect the garrisons in Thrace in May 1934 but did not realize them; see the letter to Chancellor Dollfuss, Ankara, 7 May 1934: ÖstA, AdR, ÖVB/Ankara, Embassy Ankara 3, folder 'Türkische Militärpolitik 1934–1937', letter 49/Pol. In the second half of June 1934 he visited Çanakkale and the Straits together with the Shah of Persia; see British Embassy, Annual Report for Turkey 1934, §125. 70Letter to Chancellor Dollfuss, Ankara, 7 May 1934. 71Press clipping from the Berliner Lokalanzeiger, 23 April 1936: Bundesarchiv, Berlin, BArch 8034II/6047. 72British Embassy, Annual Report for Turkey 1934, §230. Diplomats in Turkey had also noticed the military activities along the Straits; see, for example, the letter to Berger-Waldenegg, Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ankara, 26 November 1934: ÖstA, AdR, ÖVB/Ankara, Embassy Ankara 3, folder 'Türkische Militärpolitik 1934–1937', letter 79/Pol. 73TR, 19, §3. 74Letter from Morgan (Constantinople) to Sir John Simon (Foreign Office, London), 13 October 1934. 75Law No. 2510. 76Interestingly, in the most sensitive Çanakkale district, the Jews were clearly outnumbered by Christians and Greek-speaking inhabitants. The Jewish minority accounted for only 1.02 per cent of the population (1,845 persons), whereas members of the Orthodox and the Catholic churches accounted for 2.46 per cent and 1.66 per cent, respectively (4,469 and 3,011 persons, respectively). The majority of the latter were presumably identical with the Greek-speaking inhabitants (4.37 per cent or 7,938 persons); see Başvekâlet İstatistik Umum Müdürlüğü, İstatistik Yıllığı. With regard to the idea that non-Muslims in general were regarded as potentially dangerous, a few reports hint that Christians were also driven out, albeit to a much smaller extent than the Jews. 77It should also be noted that negative stereotypes of Jews had a long tradition in Turkish folklore; see Bali, Les Relations entre Turcs et Juifs, 25–8. 78The General Staff was led by Marshal Fevzi Çakmak, a strong advocate for the installation of security zones from which foreigners were to be excluded; see Falih Rıfkı Atay, Çankaya (Istanbul: Doğan Kardeş Matbaacılık Sanayi A. ş. Basımevi 1969), 546. Interestingly, in 1935, Kırklareli, scene of the most violent pogrom only a year before, was declared a military zone in which only Muslims were allowed to live; see The Times (London), 22 May 1935, 11. Another well-fitting piece of the puzzle! 79'İbrahim Tali Bey izahat veriyor'.