Abstract:

The first contact of the Jews with the Turks in Anadolu began with the Ottoman taking the Bursa. Thus, the Jews in Anatolia have become part of the Ottoman State since the 13th century. Nevertheless, the Ottoman State began Jewish migrations from Europe in the 14th century; these migrations continued throughout the 15th century to get rid of the abuse in the areas where they lived. In these processes, Jews often had no problem of adaptation to the Ottoman State. The Jews, who found themselves a new definition of community within the Ottoman national system and were welcomed by legal arrangements, have lived their religion, their languages, their traditions and their customs with comfort for centuries. In the last centuries, the Ottoman have been forced to deal with the negative effects of the nationalism stream that has affected the whole world. The nationalism has been influenced by the entire empire, especially from the Balkans. The minorities that have completed the nationalization process in this century have gradually rebelled and started to gain independence. Even in the last century of the Ottoman, unlike other non-Muslims, the Jews, the Romans and the Armenian communities have not rebelled against the state. Moreover, many Jews have not rebelled and rebelled against the state during the National Struggle and during the new state’s establishment. In this process, the establishment of a new Turkish state brought in the minds of Jews and Jewish intellectuals the question of how they will adapt to the new state and how they will live. One of the Jews who formulated this question in the most realistic way, the best, is Moiz Kohen. Kohen could reasonably formulate the question of how a Jew may exist in the newly established Turkish State and how it is included.

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