Holocaust commemorated in Turkey in sorrow

Duvar English

The holocaust was commemorated in Turkish capital Ankara on Jan. 30 with the attendance of the members of the diplomatic missions, academics and representatives of the Jewish Community of Turkey. The commemoration was held at the conference hall of Ankara University which had embraced dozens of Jewish scholars, and not only from Germany, during WWII.

Journalist Murat Yetkin, who attended the commemoration, wrote his impressions from the ceremony in his personal blog.

"For the first time this year, a cabinet minister, the Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Ersoy, has attended the commemoration. In his speech, he recalled the Turkish decision to welcome Jews escaping from the Spanish inquisition more than five centuries ago and underlined that Turkey was neither a part of the Holocaust nor closed its eyes to it. Spanish Ambassador to Ankara Juan Gonzales-Barba was present at the ceremony as well as the German Ambassador Martin Erdmann and Russian Ambassador Aleksei Erkhov," Yetkin wrote.

Yetkin reminded that a day before the commemoration a delegation headed by the Chief Rabbi İsak Haleva visited President Tayyip Erdoğan, prayed at the Ankara Synagogue together and was given a dinner by the Turkish Foreign Ministry officials.

"The reason why the ceremonies and activities are kept low-profile is the negative effect of the deteriorated relations between Turkey and Israel on the perception of the Jewish minority, in the eyes of certain Islamist groups and opinion holders," Yetkin said.

In his piece, Yetkin questioned whether President Erdoğan could say a few words on the Holocaust, if a day before the U.S. President Donald Trump had not announced his new Middle East plan.

Murat Yetkin's piece in full can be reached here.