Free Republic

JNS.org - Several prominent Turkish Jews have written an open letter reprimanding their government for publicly asking the Jewish community to denounce Israel’s operation Protective Edge in Gaza.

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...

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkey's Jewish community on Thursday installed Isak Haleva as chief rabbi, a 550-year-old post created when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul. The 62-year-old Haleva has been acting chief rabbi and leader of the 25,000-member Jewish community since his election to the post in October. In an elaborate ceremony in Istanbul's main synagogue, Haleva was presented with a white, fringed prayer shawl by Israel's chief rabbi, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron. A Turkish rabbi then drapped a chain holding two golden tablets enscribed with the Ten Commandments around his neck. The chain and the tablets are a symbol of the chief rabbi's...