page_title: Antisemitism in Turkey
section_title: Jews and anti-semitism in The Ottoman Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Antisemitism in Turkey / Historical status of Jews in Turkey / Jews and anti-semitism in The Ottoman Empire
caption_attribution_description: Painting of a Jewish man from the Ottoman Empire.
context_page_description: Antisemitism in Turkey refers to acts of hostility against Jews in the Republic of Turkey, as well as the promotion of antisemitic views and beliefs in that country.
context_section_description: In accordance with Islamic law, Jews in the Ottoman Empire had the status of dhimmi, which meant they were in principle subordinate to Muslims. However, the status of dhimmi guaranteed personal inviolability and freedom of religion. This, however, did not prevent antisemitism in Ottoman Turkey.
  The first Ottoman case of blood libel, that is claims of Jews abducting and sacrificing non-Jews in sinister rituals, was reported during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II in the 15th century (according to other sources – at the beginning of the 16th century). Subsequently, and despite the mass migration of Jews from Spain in 1492, such blood libels occurred rarely and were usually condemned by Ottoman authorities. Some Jewish sources mention blood libel incidents during the reign of Sultan Murad IV.
  Sultan Mehmet II issued a firman, a royal decree, which was the first of its kind in the Ottoman Empire and ordered that all cases related to the blood libel should be considered by the Divan, the highest council of the Empire.
  In general, the migration of Jews from Western Europe to Ottoman Empire was greeted kindly by the authorities. In 1553, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent taking up the opinion of his personal doctor and adviser, Moses Hamon, reconfirmed the orders of Mehmed II, which prohibit local courts from adjudicating the cases pertaining to alleged Jewish ritual murder. He also successfully counter-measured the intention of Pope Paul IV to place the Jews of Ancona into the hands of the Inquisition.
  However, later the attitude of the authorities towards the Jews deteriorated. In 1579 Sultan Murad III reportedly heard that Jewish women wore silk clothes decorated with precious stones, and ordered the destruction of all Jews in the Empire. Even though the decree was lifted, thanks to Shlomo Ashkenazi, the adviser to the Grand Vizier, a special clothing was ordered for Jews to wear. In particular, women were forbidden to wear silk, and men have been prescribed to wear a special form of hat.
  There were a number of known cases of blood libel in the 19th century on the territory of the Ottoman Empire: Aleppo (1810), Beirut (1824), Antioch (1826), Hama (1829), Tripoli (1834), Jerusalem (1838), Rhodes and Damascus (1840), Marmora (1843), Smyrna (1864). The most famous of them were the Rhodes and Damascus affairs, both in 1840, both of which had major international repercussions.
  Blood libel in Rhodes occurred in February 1840, when the Greek Orthodox community, with the active participation of the consuls of several European states accused the Jews of kidnapping and murdering a Christian boy for ritual purposes. The Ottoman governor of Rhodes supported the accusation. Several Jews were arrested, some of whom have made self-incriminating confessions under torture, and the entire Jewish-quarter was blocked for twelve days. In July 1840 the Jewish community of Rhodes was formally acquitted of accusations.
  In the same year, the Damascus affair took place, in which Jews were accused of the ritual murder of father Thomas, a Franciscan friar from the Island of Sardinia and his Greek servant, Ibrahim Amarah. Four members of the Jewish community died under torture, and the matter resulted in international outrage. British politician Sir Moses Montefiore intervened to clear the remaining imprisoned Jews and persuaded Sultan Abdulmecid I to issue a decree on 6 November 1840, declaring that blood libel accusations is a slander against Jews and to be prohibited throughout the Ottoman Empire. The decree read:
  "We cannot permit the Jewish nation... to be vexed and tormented upon accusations, which have not the least foundation in truth..."
  In 1866, with the resumption of cases of blood libel, the Sultan Abdülaziz issued a firman, according to which the Jews were declared to be under his protection. Orthodox clergy limited such accusations thereafter, but another known case of blood libel happened in 1875 in Aleppo, but the alleged victim of the murder – the Armenian boy – was soon found alive and well.
  In the second half of the 19th century the Ottoma
caption: Painting of a Jewish man from the Ottoman Empire, 1779.
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